Editing 1456: On the Moon

{{comic
| number    = 1456
| date      = December 5, 2014
| title     = On the Moon
| image     = on_the_moon.png
| titletext = "I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on Venus and returning him safely to--" [an aide frantically whispers in the president's ear for a moment] "... of landing a man on Venus."
}}

==Explanation==
The phrase "If we can land a man on the Moon, why can't we <blank>" is commonly used to question a perceived shortcoming of government, society or humanity in general. The {{w|Apollo program}} landed {{w|List of Apollo astronauts#Apollo astronauts who walked on the Moon|twelve astronauts}} on the {{w|Moon}} in six landing missions from July 1969 to December 1972 and returned all twelve of those astronauts safely to the Earth, as well as all those who went 'to' the Moon without landing (two orbit-only missions, all crew-members who remained in orbit and the whole crew of the {{w|Apollo 13|mission}} that suffered a critical accident on the way to a proposed landing). However, from 1964 to 1967, there were eight deaths of astronauts or men training to be astronauts: three in the Apollo One fire, four in T-38 crashes, and one in an F-104 crash. The premise is usually that if "we" (whether referring generally to humanity, or specifically to the United States) have been able to achieve this extraordinary feat, our inability to achieve some lesser goal is questionable and/or ironic. Right after the Philae landing, the similar hashtag [https://twitter.com/hashtag/wecanlandonacometbutwecant #WeCanLandOnACometButWeCant] began on Twitter.

Here, Megan cuts Cueball's argument's short by implicitly reminding him that humanity has not put another human on the Moon since the end of the Apollo program in December 1972 (nearly 42 years at the time this comic was published). New manned programs to return to the Moon, such as the {{w|Constellation Program}}, have been repeatedly cancelled. The {{w|Orion (spacecraft)|Orion spacecraft}}, which will be capable of carrying humans beyond {{w|low Earth orbit}} for the first time in over 40 years, executed its first test flight on the day after this comic was published. However, this is outdated, as {{w|NASA}} is planning to go to the Moon again with the {{w|Artemis Program}}. The launch date of when {{w|Artemis 3}}, the mission where humans will return, is planned to be some time in 2025, when this comic would be around eleven years old.

The title text is a retelling of [[John F. Kennedy]]'s famous inspirational [https://www.jfklibrary.org/Asset-Viewer/xzw1gaeeTES6khED14P1Iw.aspx address to the U.S. Congress in May 1961] ("I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth"), which set into motion the Apollo program, except that this time, the speaker is talking about putting a man on planet {{w|Venus}}. The aide presumably explains to the president that, unlike Moon, Venus has gravity close to that of the Earth, but what's more, its surface {{w|Atmosphere_of_Venus|atmosphere}} density and pressure, and other factors including high temperature, strong winds and sulfuric acid clouds would make manned launch back to orbit practically impossible at our current technological level. As a result, the president backtracks from the goal of returning the astronauts safely to the Earth and comically limits the aspiration to landing an astronaut on Venus, full stop, without regard to the astronaut's safe return. This differs slightly from Kennedy's goal, which included the safe return of at least one astronaut from the Moon. Although the overall 8:12 ratio of deaths to moonwalkers (during the period for Kennedy's speech to the end of the Apollo program) was too high to be considered "safe" by most standards, Kennedy had specified the safety only of the men who landed on the Moon, and set a goal of "a" man returning safely. Technically, even if most of the men who landed died, as long as one returned safely by the end of 1969, Kennedy's goal would have been met.

Kennedy's 1961 speech was also mentioned in the title text of [[753: Southern Half]].

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and Megan are walking together heading right.]
:Cueball: If we could land a man on the Moon, why can't we-
:Megan: -land a man on the Moon?
:Cueball: ...ok, fair. But we're working on it, OK?

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Space]]