Why aren't young people interested in Apollo 11?

[DC1MC]

If you're not Chinese or Indian there is no deed to be interested in STEM, your job will be outsourced anyway sooner than later, the real money is in MBA, law, finance or diversity officer, or so they say... 

[VK3DRB]

With the visit of an Australian friend and his wife we celebrated by playing "The Dish".
Both had no idea of the role Australia had played during the moon landing.

My kids are well aware but both seemed more attuned on the status of earth and what will their own kids will have to deal with.
Quite different from the hopeful attitude from what I remember feeling at the time.

Few people don't know about Parkes outside Australia. Less known, even in Australia, is Honeysuckle Creek which played a far more important role in man landing on the moon. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honeysuckle_Creek_Tracking_Station

The Dish is a good Aussie movie (I have watched it 11 times), but a lot of it is historical . For example no one played cricket on the dish prior to the moon landing . Still, it is good movie that stirs the emotions. I sent a copy of The Dish to an American ham radio friend of mine... he loved it. But for some reason it flopped in the USA; possibly because they had trouble with the humour or the Aussie accent.

A better movie, IMO, is October Sky. Fabulous movie made by the Americans about Homer Hickam, who became an aerospace engineer for NASA. Now that is a movie that Dave Jones might want to consider watching with his son when he his around 12 years old. Or any dad might want to watch with their kids.

[Kjelt]

october sky

Thanks put it on my watch list.

Started with the Apollo11 docu, beautifull crisp pictures now and then just as if it happened yesterday, but must admit that I was done after half an hour, will continue later.
Weird because a movie like Apollo13 I have watched over six times, had it on dvd and bluray and now bought it on 4K UHD.

[Dubbie]

I was born more than a decade after Apollo 11 but am rather obsessed with the whole exercise. I think it is the grandest adventure mankind has ever embarked on. It’s going to take a lot to top! I love reading about all the technical minutiae of the launch system and landers. All the little and large problems they solved are absolutely fascinating to me. I probably have at least a couple of feet of books on my shelves about rockets and spacecraft.

[nctnico]

As a baby boomer, I'm not that motivated to see that movie either. I absorbed the entire Apollo program as it happened, and my memory is excellent. I recognize not everyone remembers so clearly, however.

space programs which results in 0 ROI.

There are all sorts of technological advances that are tied, directly and indirectly, to development caused by space programs. Just because people take them for granted now that they exist doesn't change reality. GPS. Satellite TV. Tiny camera technology. Scratch-resistant plastics. CAT scans. Foil blankets. Memory foam. Water purifiers. Freeze dried food. The list goes on.

I have some doubts about that list. However there are many experiments which can not be done on earth due to gravity. The people in space aren't sitting on their thumbs looking pretty but they are doing scientific experiments non-stop.

Just a random grab from what they are doing in the ISS:
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/news/SSSH_15jul19

The days of putting jet-fighter pilots in space are long gone. IIRC there was already a scientist on the last flight of the Apollo program to do proper research on the moon.

[David Hess]

I lack interest because not having followed up, the whole thing become a one time stunt.  The US was never serious about it except as a way to compete with and show up the Soviets.  Maybe that was important enough to justify the economic cost but the technology and science aspects were just along for the ride.

Because of that, I could not care less about the NASA's SLS and return missions for the science and technology.  Maybe like the Shuttle, the economic cost of supporting the aerospace industry is also worth it but that is not the justification they give.

On the other hand, Elon Musk is actually getting something done and I follow news about SpaceX very closely.

Kings of the High Frontier pretty much covers my thoughts about NASA and Congress.

There are all sorts of technological advances that are tied, directly and indirectly, to development caused by space programs.

Many of them would have happened anyway.  I think NASA, as an agent of Congress, has ultimately held back advances in space technology.  The useful things NASA has accomplished represent a tiny part of NASA's budget.

[wilfred]

Slight divergence. Armstrong is about to walk on the moon in about 10 minutes, 50 years ago exactly.

https://apolloinrealtime.org/11/, click on NOW button.

Whoa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Really been enjoying this site.

[HighVoltage]

A few years ago, AIRBUS out of France did an European wide survey of young people who almost had finished their general school education (before college) and wanted to know what their number one goal was for a future job.

The results shocked them beyond believe.

The number one wish was for becoming a "celebrity"

No more pilot, fireman, doctor, scientist or whatever was a cool goal during my time of growing up.
Something shifted in the last 20 years dramatically.

(I can not find the reference at the moment, it was a YT video by an executive of Airbus.)

[Chriss]

Hi to all of you!
Everything was written here. All the answers are here "why young peoe are notinterested.. " .
I woild ask, is there any link  where I could watch that online?

Thank you.
I'm from Europe but I wish I could be also there...

Sent from my SM-J500F using Tapatalk

[Black Phoenix]

A few years ago, AIRBUS out of France did an European wide survey of young people who almost had finished their general school education (before college) and wanted to know what their number one goal was for a future job.

The results shocked them beyond believe.

The number one wish was for becoming a "celebrity"

No more pilot, fireman, doctor, scientist or whatever was a cool goal during my time of growing up.
Something shifted in the last 2 years dramatically.

(I can not find the reference at the moment, it was a YT video by an executive of Airbus.)

To be sincere, when you have sport players (football, soccer, f1, basketball, baseball, etc) earning more and being more recognized and having more time of attention that the person who discovered a cure to a disease, that doesn't surprised me...

Tell me when was the last time you saw a documentary, a recent one done about the Nobel Price, the last year one for example or in the last 10 years one of them. Now tell me how many documentaries and shows about life of a sports player did you saw in the last 10 years.

Plus mostly now kids are connected to the YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and other Social Media. I'm 33, and had colleagues with 21, 22 max. By looking by their own searchers and likes on that Social Apps I only saw likes to the new car the football player had, or the party the other athlete had at home, or the YouTuber who bought a Nike Shoes that cost more that $500 or the rapper who bought a Lambo.

Things about science or discovery don't catch up in the idea that the new ones have. They don't dream of getting into new worlds, they dream in getting a good life.

[coppice]

To be sincere, when you have sport players (football, soccer, f1, basketball, baseball, etc) earning more and being more recognized and having more time of attention that the person who discovered a cure to a disease, that doesn't surprised me...

It seems this has always been the case. Many historians still say the highest paid sports star ever was Gaius Appuleius Diocles, a Roman charioteer.

[Kjelt]

A few years ago, AIRBUS out of France did an European wide survey of young people who almost had finished their general school education (before college) and wanted to know what their number one goal was for a future job.
The results shocked them beyond believe.

The number one wish was for becoming a "celebrity"

Uh yeah if you see how much money those people make a year when succesfull that is whats ticking their clock. Always have been a driver for the other known studies.

I understand kids would like that till they are in their puberty but after that it would be nice if thy come down with both feet on the ground and started to make serious effort into getting an education at least a bit in the direction of their future profession.
No wonder depression and burnout is a growing problem with young adults, their sense of reality is far from the cold harsh reality of having to work for a living and actually doing most of the time stuff you don't give anything about.

[mikerj]

Maybe they saw the video of the A11 crew pretending to be 1/2 way to the moon, by placing a thing over the window looking at the Earth, and making it look like the Earth is the size of a marble, and the rest of the window is blacked out.

Like it or not, Bart Sibrel really did release the footage of the A11 crew faking images, so what's NASA'a excuse ?

I really wish people would go walk on the Moon, that would be cool.

Hopefully we aren't raising a generation of paranoid conspiracy theorists with no critical thinking ability or self awareness.

[Black Phoenix]

I was lucky because when I was a kid, I basically had access to lots of books from my Mom and Uncle, so had the chance to read about the 70s and 60s. I had a book that I don't know were it is that were the Apollo Program in a big encyclopedia with beautiful colour photos, some full page.

I had also some about National Geographic, Computer Science, Human Evolution, Society Story, etc...

I had all of that but I didn't had access to a PC until I was 10 and Internet until I was 14. So I had lots of time to read and read and read. And interest for it.

Nowadays youth pick up the phone and have access to the world. So they don't read or try to memorise things, if they need they "Google it". I would love to have had that access when I was a kid. I probably would had read a lot more about all that subjects... Or probably not and would be exactly how teenagers nowadays are.

[Buriedcode]

So what makes you think that young people aren't interested in the Apollo 11 mission, or the Apollo program?  I mean, from the sounds of it, you have a couple of examples of young people who don't wish to see a documentary at the IMAX - not really representative of an entire generation (or generations).

From an engineering perspective it is cool, the challenges, the solutions, the sheer effort, but expecting the following generations - who had different "landmark events" in their youth - to share the same views you have is somewhat naive.  It could be that the younger generation watch far more media, and therefore exposed to more hype than yourself.  In the past few weeks, mentions of the moon landing have been everywhere and I'll admit to becoming slightly tired of it.

This isn't NASA's fault, this isn't a generation thing, this is the modern media jumping on any bandwagon they can, and saturating peoples interest, so maybe the person at your wife's work was simply tired of hearing about it - and the implication that he/she should be amazed/interested.

I wasn't alive when we landed on the moon, or for any Apollo missions, I don't have any fond memories of it happening to relive. 

[richnormand]

Few people don't know about Parkes outside Australia. Less known, even in Australia, is Honeysuckle Creek which played a far more important role in man landing on the moon. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honeysuckle_Creek_Tracking_Station

The Dish is a good Aussie movie (I have watched it 11 times), but a lot of it is historical . For example no one played cricket on the dish prior to the moon landing . Still, it is good movie that stirs the emotions. I sent a copy of The Dish to an American ham radio friend of mine... he loved it. But for some reason it flopped in the USA; possibly because they had trouble with the humour or the Aussie accent.

A better movie, IMO, is October Sky. Fabulous movie made by the Americans about Homer Hickam, who became an aerospace engineer for NASA. Now that is a movie that Dave Jones might want to consider watching with his son when he his around 12 years old. Or any dad might want to watch with their kids.

Thanks, I'll look for "October sky"

I was a summer student in the early 70s and part of a team that did observations on a similar radio telescope here.
The bit of playing inside the dish or the "hayride" would surely have us fired immediately. Safety and the precision of the reflecting surface and outer mesh was paramount but, hey, it's a film and supposed to be entertaining.
If it caused a few people to explore it further and follow a STEM career the better.

(By the way my wife has her PhD in radioastronomy... so I might be biassed )


Edit: spelling

[tooki]

Until they find out just how much of the technology everyone takes for granted rely on satellites. Deep space, however, is a different matter...

So... GPS (and GLONASS and eventually Galileo) and (to a far, far lesser extent) weather/environmental observation satellites.

I don't think one can argue that any of the other kinds of satellites have any impact on everyday life. Space telescopes? Nope. Communications? Nope. Surveillance? Nope.

[james_s]

Oh, I know what you mean and I agree. I was just trying to paint the dichotomy between hippies, who spent all their time stoned, protesting the war and practicing "free love", and "nerds" who were focused on nerdy things.

The older generations thought the hippies were the downfall of western civilization. And in certain ways, they were.

I think the hippies were like any other movement of predominantly young and naive, idealistic people. That and it was the natural backlash from the conformist 50s and 60s and people fed up with our increasing involvement in ever longer and more pointless wars. Eventually most of them realized that sitting around getting high doesn't actually accomplish anything and grew up. Plenty of former hippies became productive adults later on, a few didn't.

If anything I think the nerds were/are another counterculture that had more in common with the hippies than with society as a whole. It was the modern tech companies like Microsoft that rejected cultural norms like the traditional suit & tie and made casual dress at the office normal. It would have been practically unheard of in the 60s for a bunch of professional office workers to be lounging around in shorts and t-shirts but today that is almost universal in tech.

[001]

When I was 20 I interested in girls and money. not space
It is ok if You can understand me

[SiliconWizard]

When I was 20 I interested in girls and money. not space
It is ok if You can understand me

 

[coppercone2]

A few years ago, AIRBUS out of France did an European wide survey of young people who almost had finished their general school education (before college) and wanted to know what their number one goal was for a future job.

The results shocked them beyond believe.

The number one wish was for becoming a "celebrity"

No more pilot, fireman, doctor, scientist or whatever was a cool goal during my time of growing up.
Something shifted in the last 20 years dramatically.

(I can not find the reference at the moment, it was a YT video by an executive of Airbus.)

people figured out those jobs suck because of health risk, danger, long hours, lack of appreciation.

Part of celebs job is to go some where and drink with people. Engineers job is either to figure out how to do some shit no one cares about or to make something cheap and shitty and get nothing for it. Then when its done you get a 'oh yea you can do that'. (of course if they tried to figure it out themselves it would result in a suicide but still no one does that).

Can't imagine some 8th order filter designer hearing 'its just LCR dude, its a sophomore year class'. Partially googles fault I think, because people see a 'triangle' and a 'little spring' in google images and they think they know whats going on lol

[VK3DRB]

So what makes you think that young people aren't interested in the Apollo 11 mission, or the Apollo program?  I mean, from the sounds of it, you have a couple of examples of young people who don't wish to see a documentary at the IMAX - not really representative of an entire generation (or generations).

I will be at the IMAX in a few days. I will report on the age mix there in this forum. I might be wrong: it might be full of teenagers. But my gut feel it will be full of people with grey hair or no hair.

[NiHaoMike]

The number one wish was for becoming a "celebrity"

That's quite a lot easier (but still not that easy) with the advent of independent online media. But it does beg the question of how many followers/subscribers does it take to be a true celebrity. 100k? 1M?

[David Hess]

To be sincere, when you have sport players (football, soccer, f1, basketball, baseball, etc) earning more and being more recognized and having more time of attention that the person who discovered a cure to a disease, that doesn't surprised me...

Talent goes where the money is just as it should.  If society favors lawyers, marketers, and politicians over teachers, engineers, and scientists, then it gets what it deserves.

Do you think all of the STEM advertising is for the good of people who go into STEM fields?  Ha!

[VK3DRB]

Well, I went to IMAX theatre last night to see the Apollo 11 documentary. Excellent movie that made you think you were there and part of it. Superb sound effects with the blast off - brilliantly done! Excellent footage too. I knew most of the stuff shown, except for the gas leak about 2 hours before lift off. It was cool to see the owner of Playtex bras helping fit his superbly engineered spacesuits to Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins.

I looked at the theatre clientele and I was delighted to see people of all ages there.

If I did a Pareto on ages, I would say the peak in the bell curve would be around 40-50 years old. Great to see kids there and even a few teenagers. One bloke had his two kids there, 6 and 8 years old (I asked him their ages). Before the movie, he said he was worried the kids would get bored and start mucking around. Despite the young ages present you could hear a pin drop during the silent parts of the film. Everyone was pretty much mesmerised.

Absent seemed to be people in their 70's or later - that was quite surprising. I would have thought a lot more grey-hairs or no-hairs would be there. The weather was crap - maybe that had something to do with it.

For those in Oz, I think IMAX is concluding the movie at the end of this month. I suggest you might want to see it whilst you have the chance.