Time to race to the moon, not countryside this Easter holiday

My fascination with space has been a lifelong affair. Growing up in the countryside without electric power (it only arrived 59 years after uhuru) made us turn to the natural sources of light at night - the moon and the stars.

The artificial lighting in the city interferes with natural light. Remember, we were not prisoners of social media; nature was our social media. 

Tarmac is still a dream in my hamlet, 63 years after the Union Jack was lowered, three years after Kenya Kwanza’s promise. The name of my village will remain secret for security reasons.

Another encounter with space was in high school while calculating the escape velocity, the speed a spacecraft or rocket should travel to escape the Earth’s gravity.

Remember that apple falling to the ground as Isaac Newton watched? What is the average physics grade of the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education at Isaac Newton School on the outskirts of Kisumu City?

My fascination was deepened further after meeting Charles Duke (aged 90 now), one of the astronauts who walked on the moon. I was an undergraduate physics student, still trying to define my career trajectory.

I also visited the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, United States. Why all the nostalgia? I want to distract you from your pilgrimage to the countryside.

Sadly, the economic reality is a bigger distractor; the city is full. On a visit to the central business district on Friday, I found lots of businesses open. 

Instead of visiting the countryside with traffic jams and expenses, why not join Americans on the trip to the moon, at least online and emotionally?

Four astronauts are heading to the moon, but won’t land. They will fly around it before heading back home in about ten days. It’s a rehearsal for a return to the moon landing, the last time in 1972.

The current trip has a first: Victor Glover will be the first African-American to fly to the moon’s neighbourhood.

A Canadian aboard will hopefully thaw the tense relationship with the US emanating from tariffs.  Why should the four earthlings head to the moon as the rest of us head to the shaggs (countryside) or hang around? Does it make economic sense?   Let’s not forget that other countries, specifically China, want to land on the moon too. 

Why the fascination with landing on a barren, lifeless celestial body? Should we celebrate landing in the middle of the Sahara or the Chalbi deserts? 

Why return to the moon? 

First, it’s the national pride and prestige. Landing where someone has not been is simply cool, just as we boast after visiting new places.

Countries compete among themselves like individuals. In the first moon landing, the US beat the Russians. They now want to beat China.

Competition is a great motivator, even in space. National pride, espoused by Trump’s America First, is driving the return to the moon. Remember, making America great again? 

Two is the spillover into science and technology. School children will be fascinated by this travel and could start loving STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics).

How many physics teachers reminded students to follow the flight around the moon and back? Is social media just for entertainment? 

Remember, most innovations come from STEM. And economists, including Nobel laureates like Robert Solow and others, have demonstrated how innovation has remained a key driver of economic growth. How many jobs have been created by the phone only?

Three is economics. Behind the investment in space exploration is the allure of big money.

The moon and possibly asteroids have lots of minerals, from Helium - 3, a rare gas, to rare earth metals (the new oil). It is possible we shall be mining on these celestial bodies in our lifetime.

One of my concerns is that the moon could soon be shared out like the scramble for Africa.

Will Kenya get a piece? Remember, the US has a space command? Seen the wars over oil?  Why do American billionaires like Steve Bezos and Elon Musk own space companies, Blue Origin and SpaceX? The latter is going for an initial public offering. Will you buy? Notice the timing! 

Four, the discovery of water on the Moon’s southern pole was a game-changer. India’s Chandrayaan-1 moon lander confirmed the existence of water.

India, like China, is also a contender in the space race.

Finding water shifted the possibility of transforming the moon into a livable place from fiction to reality. We can terraform the moon into real estate. Are you still going to the countryside (shaggs)? Umefika wapi? 

Americans and other nationalities would probably have returned to the moon if they had found water sooner.

Remember civilisations along rivers like the Indus, Euphrates, Nile, among others? 

deep space

Five, we keep dreaming. Once through with the moon, our eyes will be on another celestial ball, planet Mars. No water yet, but we can figure out how to get there, from the moon or the Earth.

The big plan is to build a base on the moon, where there is water and use it as a launching pad to Mars and deep space.

Has the Competency-Based Education informed our students that, according to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), there are over 6,153 exoplanets (outside the solar system)?

We need to explore them and maybe seed them with humanity, if we don’t encounter aliens or extraterrestrial intelligence. I hope we shall make peace with them, not war. 

Any time I look at the heavens on a clear night, I get a feeling we are not alone in the vast, endless universe, unidentified flying objects (UFOs) apart.

Finally, returning to the moon and daring to reach Mars demonstrates how humanity has kept expanding the frontiers of possibility. We also expand our island of knowledge, and hopefully not the shore of ignorance. And you still want to visit shaggs?

In the spirit of Easter and the trip to the moon and beyond, we need to re-examine Genesis 1:28. Happy Easter, my fellow countrymen, wherever you are on this small planet.