# What Do We Owe The Apollo Astronauts? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 14, 2002, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-we-owe-the-apollo-astronauts/128414 "2002-09-14T10:49:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2002, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-we-owe-the-apollo-astronauts/128414/21 "2002-09-16T07:33:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by sezyou \* > \*\*A slight hijack here. I have never understood why the date that we set foot on the moon was never made into a national holiday. (Exploration Day or something). Truly one of the greatest achievements in the world and probably the greatest for the United States ever. I don’t get it. \*\* _Someone_ has come up with a whole new friggin’ calendar with months and days named in honor of the astronauts, even had the years starting over with the date of the landing, which would make this the year 33. Sadly, I lost the link to the site that listed this and it seemed to be a really complicated method. You’re right, though, it ought to be some kind of holiday. ---
**Author:** ![vertigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/3ec8ea/32.png) [@vertigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vertigo)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2002, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-we-owe-the-apollo-astronauts/128414/22 "2002-09-20T00:56:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tuckerfan \* > So are you saying artists aren’t important because all they can do is move us emotionally? I would really appreciate you pointing out where I alluded to minimizing artists, even subtly. I did, however, state that Astronauts don’t have a monopoly on taking great and important (and even “WOW!”) types of photographs. If the importance of sending men to the moon was for the publicity photos, then we should have sent some Photographers instead of Astronauts. Just because you feel that the images from the Moon landing were/are great publicity for our Space Program, that doesn’t make them heroic feats. But from reading your responses and interpretations of what I and other people wrote, I’m not sure that you would see the difference. Perhaps you and I have very different interpretations on what a “Hero” actually is. You seem to have a broad definition that encompasses anyone and any action that promotes what you feel is important in the world (as examples; Astronauts, Artists - Shakespeare in particular, Cousteau, etc.). As long as you feel that way, I doubt we can have a very productive debate, as anything that I point out will be shot down more on an emotional level. > [@](#): > > Hmm. Yes, but the Hubble’s pre-programmed and pointed. As I stated before, Hubble can’t catch something out of the corner of it’s lens spin around for half a second say something like, “Wow!” and snap a couple of unplanned photographs. ??? I’m not even sure what to say about that comment. What it has to do with anything is beyond me. But I’m glad the Astronauts risked their lives to give you a neat picture for your Desktop. > [@](#): > > Cousteau is a hero because he worked to save the world from itself. His pictures were part of that process (and a very important part). To seperate the photos from his other acts (lobbying, research, etc.) and to say the photos aren’t heroic, but the others are, is akin to saying Shakespeare was an artist when he composed his plays, but not his sonnets. Cousteau is an extremely important figure from within our lifetimes. He was a great man and you are right that he did a lot for helping conserve the Oceans. But that alone wouldn’t make him a _Hero_. But you knew I was going to say that… > [@](#): > > I’m still trying to make sense of this part. You seem to say that it’s silly for me to want to do it, and that I really wouldn’t want to do it, but it’s understandable why someone would do it, and you can think of people who you would do it with. In any case, dying a hero beats dying alone a bitter old man of some horrific disease hands down, any day. So I guess that you are saying that if you got your chance to go into space on a new mission, you’d be a hero too? You have already stated that you would do it even if it cost you your life, so I would guess that it is something that you would do regardless of the risks (in a sense, it has minimal risk to you, since you aren’t that concerned with the consequences). If you are doing something you would do anyway and you die doing it, is that heroic? I can’t stop you riding a mountain bike off a shear cliff, but if you do it (whether you live or die), was that a heroic feat? What if you took pictures that were only possible from the perspective of someone who is biking to a near certain death? Are you now a hero? What if you survive and win the hearts and minds of the masses for your daring feat, but then 30 years later some snot-nosed kid says what you did was faked. Should you get to punch him in the face? For words? I admit this dialog is very patronizing, but I am hoping to put some perspective on what the Astronauts did so that you can see that there is a meaningful difference between being brave and noble, and becoming a hero for your actions. A lot of the time those go hand in hand, but not always, and to me, not with the Astronauts. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-we-owe-the-apollo-astronauts/128414.md?page=1)