The Apollo missions to the moon captured the imagination of the world’s population and continue to provoke heated debate and controversy as there are many naysayers who claim the moon landing in 1969 was a hoax and just a feel good propaganda exercise by an America that was in dire need of some good news and goodwill with an unpopular war raging and turmoil at home.

The seventies saw the space station Skylab and proof that political ideologies can be put to one side in a spirit of mutual cooperation with a joint USA and (then) USSR mission in space: The Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (ASTP). The probe Voyager Six sent back some fascinating pictures of our universe and Viking took photos of the Martian surface.

The space shuttle missions in the 1980s captured the imagination as did the success of the Russian Mir space station.

It is hard to imagine a world today without satellites; some are used for our entertainment whilst others are used for far murkier perhaps even sinister reasons. But one fact cannot be denied, we have invested heavily into space exploration.

With a worldwide recession and a decommissioned space shuttle as well as Russian and US cut-backs in recent years is the space race finally over?

On the surface it would appear that the once mighty NASA is a mere shadow of its former self with funding cutbacks made by congress. Arguably we seem to be more interested in spending a fortune on spying and making war on each other rather than collectively bettering our lot.

I will never forget the late great US comedian Bill Hicks impassioned plea and lament that if all the governments of the world did not spend all the money they did on arming themselves and making war they could instead easily feed and clothe the population of the whole world with not one person left behind: a lofty dream or a possible pragmatic reality?

In this current economic climate it would appear that our focus has left that of what is ‘out there.’ Yet recently a so called ‘diamond’ planet has been discovered as well as a very hot and humid planet outside our own galaxy, which although habitable, would be very uncomfortable with constant temperatures estimated at over fifty degrees centigrade. What these two discoveries show is that there is a case for further exploration someday whether in manned craft or initially by probes.

What price can you put on humankinds survival? Many cynics will already argue that we have already ‘blown it’ and that we don’t deserve to flourish and (forgive the Star Trek term) to prosper.

The public still have a passion for astronomy and striking images are captured daily by private individuals. If we have not destroyed ourselves or suffered a natural global catastrophe perhaps it is feasible to foresee someday a fleet of space craft an armada if you will, leaving earth to colonise a new world.

Some have already argued that humans are the offspring of a ‘ship of fools’ rather than the result of evolution (the late author Douglas Adams jokingly used this proposition to great comic effect in one of the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy novels if I recall rightly). Virgin boss Richard Branson still intends commercial space flights in the not too distant future – non millionaires need not apply though! The space race may not in fact be over after all with the inclusion of emerging superpowers India and China with their own space programmes in place. Apparently China has a planned manned moon landing sometime in the 2020s. Perhaps they can determine whether the US claim was true or not? Especially if they find can Neil and Buzz’s footprints, rover’s tire marks and a stars and stripes flag on the surface!

There has already been an image of the moon’s surface with alleged debris from the Apollo 17 lunar mission visible. Again, I doubt that alone will appease the sceptics. With the recently announced Space Launch System (SLS) from NASA claiming to be an affordable and sustainable project helping deep space exploration the US still has a large stake in the action and won’t be walking away anytime soon. Maybe the next space race will be between the US and China?

Yes it’s relatively quiet for now, but space exploration won’t disappear. With a European space agency as well it is truly a global enterprise and endeavour. Now if we could only stop foreign policies based on greed and self-interest and entered an era of mutual cooperation and understanding where in the words of Bill Hicks ‘no one gets left behind’ we might just move closer to attaining and achieving the seemingly impossible. Here’s hoping.