Apollo 11 Crew Hits Failure to Stretch Farther

The crew of the Apollo 11 spacecraft, which put the first man on the moon 20 years ago, today expressed disappointment at the U.S. failure to conquer further frontiers in space, especially the planet Mars.

Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins said at the Paris Air Show that the hope inspired by their historic landing on July 20, 1969, has not been fulfilled.

“Nobody guessed we’d get to the moon by 1969,” Armstrong said. “Having said that and knowing we were able to break the chains of gravity, all of us involved are disappointed we aren’t doing any more now.”

Armstrong electrified the world when he set foot on the moon, watched by millions of television viewers, and declared: “This is one small step for man, a giant leap for mankind.”

But at their news conference, the three former astronauts asked why the giant leap was never followed through.

“I think in the future people will wonder how a nation could put all that together and then totally withdraw,” said Aldrin, who followed Armstrong to the moon.