50 years ago, humans set foot on the moon for the first time. Now, Santa Clarita officials are taking the time to reflect on the significance of that achievement and their hopes for future lunar missions.

It was July 20, 1969 when astronaut Neil Armstrong uttered those famous words, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” launching humanity into a new era of space exploration.

“In addition to it being a great achievement for the country and a nod to how hard our scientists work and how we were on the cutting edge of space exploration, that whole experience reminds us that when children are inspired by something like the moon landing, it inspires them in school and drives them to consider other career paths they may not have normally,” said Assemblywoman Christy Smith, D-Santa Clarita.

Additionally, Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger recognized the local efforts to get to the moon, such as the scientists at the nearby Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Since the end of the Apollo program in 1972, humans have not returned to the moon, however in recent years a new space race has emerged as multiple companies have begun to compete in being the first to offer privatized space travel, such as Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has announced its intention to return to the moon as part of the Artemis Program, which hopes to achieve a lunar landing by 2024, according to NASA’s website.

This landing would be the first step towards the Artemis Program’s goal of establishing a permanent human lunar presence which would eventually enable humans to take the next leap to Mars, according to officials. 

“The moon landing 50 years ago inspired a whole generation of kids to become involved in math, science, and technology that we’re using today, and so I would expect you would see a similar response to the new missions,” said Santa Clarita City Councilmember Cameron Smyth.  “My kids are of that age that could very well be inspired by the new round of space travel and lead them into careers and technology.”

The new round of lunar missions could potentially be a boon to those in our community employed by the aerospace industry, concentrated in nearby Palmdale, which is home to offices for several major aerospace companies including Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Boeing.

“From the X-15 rocket plane hypersonic research program to the Lunar Landing Research Vehicle, Edwards Air Force Base was a big part of the NASA human space flight program in the 60s,” said Rep. Katie Hill, D-Agua Dulce, in a Facebook post.

Some local officials hope that the increase in missions can help spur the resurrection of aerospace manufacturing in the region.

“I think one concern that I would have on the greater issue of California’s role in aerospace, is that unlike 50 years ago, much of aerospace manufacturing isn’t done in CA anymore,” Smyth said. “Certainly I would love to see this inspire a return of the aerospace industry to California so that the kids of today can have jobs here in California if they want to go into that field.”

For now, the children of today will have to look to launches to the International Space Station scheduled over the course of the next year for inspiration of what possibilities the future may hold.

To learn more about the 50th anniversary of the Apollo eleven mission, visit NASA’s official website, here. 

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