Reading Heinlein’s astounding science fiction I never thought about how long ago it really was when he wrote them. Reading this book reminded me.
The first and the last manned moon mission till date was in 1969 and over 30 years later we have yet to send human beings to Moon or to any other planetary body of consequence. All the money that should have gone into space research has been eaten by weapons development program, and – television.
The book ‘The Man Who Sold The Moon’ is about one man’s dream to reach the moon and how he makes the journey possible and ultimately fulfills his dream. The story is about the last ‘robber baron’ businessman or maybe the first of the ‘new robber barons’, an individual who can do anything legal or slightly illegal as long as he achieves the end he believes in. The end justifies the means wholly in this book from Heinlein.
The Man Who Sold The Moon is set in the 1950s, the past. The cliched conscience-less businessman was as alive then as he is now. But in Heinlein’s book his purpose is higher, sort of like Arjun in the Bhagvad Geeta.
The Man who sold the Moon is actually a Novella and a short story. The central character is the same, but the stories are set decades apart. In the second story the lead character’s initial excursion to the Moon caused rapid advancements in spaceship technology and humanity fulfilled the dream of establishing a colony on Moon. It’s a dream that still eludes us, and today the number of people who believe we will make it to outer-space are lesser than what they were 50 years ago.
It’s a shame because Heinlein has a splendid vision for the future, and we find ourselves unable to live it.
