Have you ever
dreamed of going to space? Have you ever wondered how it was like to be the
first human being to set foot on the moon? As of today, no Filipino had yet traveled to
space. But thanks to the program, AXE Apollo Space program, in 2015, Mr. Chino
Roque will be the first Filipino astronaut to travel to space (Manila Bulletin,
2013).
The most famous
travel in space was in 1969, Neil Armstrong traveled to the moon and he was the
first person to set foot on it (Space, 2013). But as a Filipino, we should also
know that in the year 1971, the first Filipino invention landed on the moon
(Bellis, n.d.). The invention was the most famous, “Moon Buggy” or Lunar Rover.
It was used by the astronauts to travel on the moon (Howell, 2012). The
Filipino who conceptualized it was Mr. Eduardo San Juan.
Dr. Eduardo San
Juan studied in Mapua Institute of Technology (MIT) and University of Washington
for a degree in Nuclear Engineering (Bellis, n.d.). But what if Dr. San Juan
did not have thought about that invention, would the Apollo 15 still be a
success? One of the missions of Apollo 15 is to survey the moon, its different
land formations, and rocks (Howell, 2012). Without the Moon Buggy, the astronauts
would not be able to travel on the moon efficiently. You might be thinking, there
would be possibly other vehicle that the astronauts would use and there wouldn’t
be any difference. But keep in mind that
it was the moon and space that we were talking about here. The force of gravity
there was different, the atmosphere, the land, etc. Simply put, it was a
different ball game.
Before the
invention of Dr. San Juan was chosen to be the vehicle that the astronauts
would use, there was a test demonstration whether the prototypes of the
different proposed vehicles will pass the test. But out of all of the vehicles
that were tested, only the Moon Buggy passed the test (Bellis, n.d.). Thus, it
was chosen as the vehicle to use in Apollo 15 mission. But what if the
invention of Dr. San Juan did not made the cut? Will the fate of the mission
changed? Will the fate of the Filipinos changed? Or better yet, did the Moon
Buggy affect in any way at all the lives of the Filipinos?
The effect of the
invention of Dr. San Juan to the daily lives of the Filipinos may not be direct
but there was certainly a positive effect. Dr. San Juan showed that with
intelligence, creativity, hard work, and faith, as cliché as it may sound, dreams
do come true and these dreams can inspire people to also live out their dreams
and contribute in putting Philippines in the map by having great scientists,
engineers, doctors, etc. that will help in shaping the lives of the people to
be a better nation. When this happens, at last, when people think of the Philippines
they will no longer think about corruption and natural disasters but its great
contribution to science, technology, society and ultimately, to humanity.
References:
Bellis,
Mary. (n.d). Eduardo San Juan. About. http://inventors.about.com/od/filipinoscientists/p/EduardoSanJuan.htm.
8 March 2014
Howell,
Elizabeth. (6 September 2012). Apollo 15: Moon Buggy Debuts. Space. http://www.space.com/17483-apollo-15.html.
8 March 2014
Manila
Bulletin. (7 December 2013). First Filipino Astronaut Named. Yahoo News. http://ph.news.yahoo.com/first-filipino-astronaut-named-185504245.html.
8 March 2014
Space.
(25 August 2013). Neil Armstrong: First Man on the Moon. Space. http://www.space.com/15519-neil-armstrong-man-moon.html.
8 March 2014
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