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Added: Tuesday, 21 July, 2009, 16:54 GMT 17:54 UK

the russians actually had an unmanned mission land on the moon before Armstrong, Buzz and Collins got into orbit. It got there a few days before them and its mission was to bring some moon rock back before the americans, whould have been a bit of a cheepshot but you cant blame them for trying. Unfortunatley for them it was a crashlanding. Still, the russians were the first to put a man into space, even though it was more luck than judgement that got him back down safely.

Colin Walker, Cardiff

Added: Tuesday, 21 July, 2009, 16:51 GMT 17:51 UK

"If the technology and know-how already exists, why not use the same old blueprints and make a few more?"

Funny how some can't see the sarcasm of this.

New Tech=space shuttle=launch delays=pump failure=fuel leaks=terrible safety record.
1969 tech=Apollo=no delays=perfect safety record=no problems.

Of course new technology is better than old.But how is this so? Unless,of course if it's a fake. You've just proven my point.

jeff phua

Added: Tuesday, 21 July, 2009, 16:49 GMT 17:49 UK

"dark and light areas cannot physically exist on the moon at exactly the same moments."

What!? Why? Where did you 'learn' that!
Ever seen your shadow?
The cameras used had issues with the level of light during lunar daytime, giving rise to large contrasts between light and dark areas. And incidently stars are very hard to image even in the night on earth so why should they appear in shots of a lunar daytime? The moon was actually closer to the sun than earth was during some of the missions

Colin Walker, Cardiff

Added: Tuesday, 21 July, 2009, 16:42 GMT 17:42 UK

I watched in awe as the first manned spacecraft landed on the moon. But the as-it-seemed 'cutting edge' technology of the time that took us there now appears positively antidiluvian. Yet modern 21st cwntury science can't reliably fuel or launch a shuttle, dock effectively with a space station, prevent protective tiles shedding from the surface of a reusable spacecraft on re-entry or even provide a reliable 'toilet' in space. Satelitte launches,equipment and navigation fail. Did we not learn?

Gina Coleman

Added: Tuesday, 21 July, 2009, 16:40 GMT 17:40 UK

Personally I think the greatest achievement was putting man in space and getting him back alive again. If you can do this, you can easily put a man on the moon...after all you are landing on a planet with no atmosphere and hence no heat shield etc required.

As for the winner of the space race....well the Russians won that by being first into space. The US won the moon race...but only by putting a man on it. The Russians circled the moon long before the US.

Tony Caban, Not English, Scottish or Welsh but British!, United Kingdom

Added: Tuesday, 21 July, 2009, 16:34 GMT 17:34 UK

An Engineering masterpeice of its time was the Saturn 5 rocket.
Driven by 8 bit computers and alot of the unknown, it just goes to show what we can achieve with the brilliant minds there are in the Enginering world......and those that are least recognised for it funny enough.
.

Westminster Mafia-no thanks, Brizzle, United Kingdom

Added: Tuesday, 21 July, 2009, 16:23 GMT 17:23 UK

"If you want to maintain your faith in the moon landings avoid watching the movie 'Capricorn One' - after you have seen it you will begin to doubt if they really ever got to the moon." [Enuf_Zed]

Really! You do understand that 'The Lord of the Rings' is fiction don't you. It's not really the history of medieval Europe. Do you really believe what you see in the movies? Sorry, did I question your faith in Santa?

Kissima, Milwaukee, USA

Added: Tuesday, 21 July, 2009, 16:12 GMT 17:12 UK

By far the greatest outcome of the space program is our freedom. The Soviets were way ahead of us in rocket technology and their missiles were more powerful and more plentiful. The USA needed a call to arms but it had to be done in such a way that the Soviets weren't provoked. Kennedy was brilliant at understanding this (especially after the Cuba crisis). So was born the 'civilian' space race. The outcome was US dominance of space travel and missile technology and thus our continued freedom.

Susan, Waukesha, USA

Added: Tuesday, 21 July, 2009, 16:06 GMT 17:06 UK

"Amazed by all the conspiracy theorists. Suppose most people didn't believe Columbus had found America either back in 1492 as well." Alan A, Blackpool, United Kingdom

Actually, Columbus didn't think he discovered America, he thought it was part of India. Nevertheless it doesn't mean he didn't go and return. Most of the hoax theorists on here are just jerking people around to see what happens. No one, even those with the shallowest IQ, can really doubt the facts that man walked on the moon.

Warren, Reading, UK

Added: Tuesday, 21 July, 2009, 16:00 GMT 17:00 UK

I will tell you- what this did- absolutely nothing for mankind.

Aside from Tang and some really cool moon rocks the space program also gave us satellites and it's difficult to list all the benefits that came from them. Advances in telecommunications, weather forecasting, crop forecasting, navigation, map making, and the spill over areas that have incorporated this technology. And there's the philosophical benefit: its difficult to see the Earth from space and not feel we are all connected.

Scott W, Port Orchard, USA

Added: Tuesday, 21 July, 2009, 15:53 GMT 16:53 UK

Huh?? You're not suggesting Dr. Goddard was British are you? He was an American, born in Worcester, MA

P Kohler.
You're quite right. Should have said; Goddards work leading to Black Arrow project and then abandoned. Pressures of space and haste.

steve doubleday

Added: Tuesday, 21 July, 2009, 15:52 GMT 16:52 UK

And what got us there, was it superstition and fairy stories? No, it was science, mathematics and the application of some very brilliant minds.

Jason Morris, United Kingdom

##

Actually, what got us there was money, politics and Wernher von Braun

None if this sort of thing is possible without massive political capital or commercial need. Science alone has neither the resources or the management skills

Joss S

Added: Tuesday, 21 July, 2009, 15:23 GMT 16:23 UK

OK - 40 years since the first moon landing. Let's celebrate!

Go back to the moon with an international body set up purely for the purpose, and let's clear all the junk up we left behind.

An operation like this would prove to the sceptics we went there in the first place. More, no-one can then accuse us of littering space up and polluting other part of the universe.

I for one don't want junk to be our space legacy....

A winner of an idea all-round, I think!

Rob, Rotherham, UK

Added: Tuesday, 21 July, 2009, 15:13 GMT 16:13 UK

If you want to maintain your faith in the moon landings avoid watching the movie 'Capricorn One' - after you have seen it you will begin to doubt if they really ever got to the moon.

[Enuf_Zed]

You saw a movie about people faking a space journey, and that proves to you the moon landing was fake? In your mind, is anything you see in a movie true?

Tom Harwick, Emmaus, Pa, United States

Added: Tuesday, 21 July, 2009, 15:12 GMT 16:12 UK

Imagine what could have been achieved if Russia and America had worked together in exploring space. But today with ESA, NASA an the rest of the world working together we could do it easily, we just need the money. The basic physics and technology behind it all isn't that complicated (I've got a master in astrophysics so I'm not talking rubbish). The physics involved is nowhere near as complicated as that involved in aircraft design, it just costs a hell of a lot to lauch.

Colin Walker, Cardiff