It was an image that defined
an era of space exploration.
In 1969,
an estimated 600 million people watched
from their living rooms
as Apollo 11's Eagle lander
touched down on the Moon.
"The Eagle has landed."
With one small step,
the United States crossed
the finish line of the space race.
But what if this event never happened?
What if we never landed on the Moon?
In 1957,
the Soviet Union successfully
launched Sputnik,
the world's first artificial satellite,
into orbit by creating rocket technology
that defied the world's expectations.
This launch was the opening shot
that started the race
to be first on the Moon.
And the United States began in last place.
As a response
to the Soviet Union's triumph,
the United States created its space agency,
known as NASA.
Dedicated to spaceflight
and scientific advancement,
this agency
employed hundreds of thousands
of the most intelligent people
on Earth to fulfill the goal
of landing two U.S. astronauts
on the Moon,
and getting there before the Soviets.
But if these missions never happened,
A by-product of the Cold War,
the space race wasn't just
about bragging rights.
Whoever got to the Moon first
might control the Earth later.
But if the space race never
kicked into high gear,
maybe the Cold War
could've ended sooner.
A battle between capitalism
and communism that raged for decades,
the Cold War was fought by
proxy wars and espionage.
Lasting from the end of World War II
to the collapse of the Soviet Union,
this conflict affected every aspect
of relations between these powerful nations,
from foreign policy to movie sequels.
And, if these two nations
weren't competing for scientific
and military supremacy via the space race,
maybe some of those proxy wars
would never have been fought.
During the height of the Cold War,
in 1986, the stockpiles contained
almost 70,000 nuclear weapons.
But if the focus
had not been on rocket technology,
maybe the nuclear arms race
would've come to a standstill.
Of course, if that had happened,
some of the technology we use today
may never have been invented.
After a tragic fire killed the entire crew
of Apollo 1,
NASA began developing
highly resistant clothing
that could withstand everything
from liquid hydrogen to melted gold.
And by collaborating with firefighters,
NASA helped design breathing masks
that had a wider view
and were easier to wear.
Without these innovations,
firefighters and emergency response teams
face greater risks,
and they might be less likely
to save your life.
OK, maybe that example is too extreme.
But if you want to know how
technology has advanced
our shared culture,
imagine life without your phone.
Today, the microchip is the modern marvel
that allows us to hold computers
in our hands,
instead of them being
the size of basketball courts.
But before the microchip,
we had the integrated circuit
developed to streamline
more electronic components
into one chip.
Created for the Apollo missions
to the Moon,
integrated circuits made technology
more available to the public
by shrinking the amount
of space it needed.
Without the integrated circuit,
the technology we carry in our pockets
might still be hanging on the walls.
If there had been no trips to the Moon,
it might have meant fewer trips to space.
If those early test rockets
had never launched,
the satellite networks we have now,
which are put into place by rockets,
may not exist.
NASA developed vehicles powerful enough
to carry objects over 36,000 km (22,000 mi)
above Earth,
and put them into geosynchronous orbits.
That means
the satellites orbit Earth
at the same speed as the Earth is rotating.
Without these satellites orbiting
over fixed points,
the communications network
that exists today
would only be a fantasy.
That means no cat videos,
baking fails,
or What Ifs.
And forget about GPS.
The Global Positioning System
links into an interconnected network
of satellites to give accurate locations
anywhere on Earth.
With fewer satellites in orbit,
this service may not exist for civilians,
although the military
would need precision targeting.
This military need may still have led
us to create GPS technology,
although it might
have taken longer to achieve it.
That might not be true
for the creation of NASA, though.
After all, the agency didn't exist until
until after the Soviet Union
launched its Sputnik.
But if NASA didn't have
the Moon landing as a goal,
its entire existence
may have been in question.
If we're not trying to reach the Moon,
why would we need this
expensive space agency?
And the technology invented
to make spaceflight cheaper
and more practical
might all be theory instead of reality.
Reusable spacecraft
like the shuttles would be as real
as the starship Enterprise.
We wouldn't see the images of our Universe
captured by the Hubble Telescope.
It wouldn't exist.
And without satellites monitoring
weather conditions
and showing us the real-time effects,
we might not know
the actual effects
caused by climate change.
Even advancements in healthcare
might have been delayed.
To deal with the extreme
temperatures of space,
NASA developed liquid cooling
and ventilation garments in 1966.
This high-tech garment,
designed to control your core temperature,
is now being used by people
with multiple sclerosis.
While this aspect of the Cold War
began with the fear
of a nuclear showdown,
these two superpowers
challenged each other
in ingenuity and curiosity.
Without this drive to explore
beyond our world,
we wouldn't be talking
about settling Mars now.
NASA even has plans to land
humans on an asteroid.
But if we didn't have the skills
and technology that allowed us
to get to the Moon,
we might not have tried
something so complicated.
Instead, we might try something less subtle.
Like, what if we nuked an asteroid?
Well, that's a story for another WHAT IF.