(Not Just) One Small Step…

“I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth.”

I’ve often wondered if then-President John F. Kennedy actually thought that goal was obtainable on May 25, 1961. Even as he spoke those words,[i] he acknowledged that it would require “alternate liquid and solid fuel boosters, much larger than any now being developed,” not to mention funding for “other engine development and for unmanned explorations—explorations which are particularly important for one purpose which this nation will never overlook: the survival of the man who first makes this daring flight.”

It was to be a magical time for our nation’s space program. There was a plan, three separate programs (Mercury, Gemini and Apollo) to help us get there, and an aspirational vision—with an end date/deadline! There was also a sense of national urgency (the so-called “Space Race” with the Soviets, which was a lot less scary than the arms race), and, while throughout its life the program was remarkably bereft of injury, the tragedy of the February 1967 fire on Apollo 1 that took the lives of Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee reminded us of the stakes involved.

And then, after years of watching Americans enter space, circle the planet, exit their craft while circling the planet (at unimaginable speeds), and then leave Earth’s orbit to touch the lunar sky, I can still remember the grainy black-and-white images of Neil Armstrong’s “one small step for man” flickering across the screen of my family’s small black-and-white television (replete with its aluminum foil-festooned rabbit ears) on that Sunday evening in 1969. An experience that was, in some form or fashion, replicated around the world that special July evening 55 years ago in a rare planetary unanimity of experience as we got that report of a successful landing at “Tranquility Base.” It was one small step for Armstrong and a giant leap for mankind—but it was truly the culmination of lots of “steps” of different individuals, size and magnitude that made it possible.

It doesn’t take much imagination to draw a correlation between the planning for a landing on the moon and a successful arrival in retirement (OK, so maybe it takes a little imagination). It requires a notion of what constitutes a successful arrival, an idea of the steps that will be required to get there, the tenacity and ingenuity to deal with the inevitable bumps along the way—and the specificity of a date certain to give some structure to those plans.

That said, students of history know that one of the contingency plans for the Apollo 11 mission was a presidential statement if those astronauts had crashed (they missed the planned landing site by about 4 miles, and got pretty low on fuel before landing), or if they hadn’t been able to return to Earth (some engineer actually forgot to put a handle on the OUTSIDE of the lunar module door—and if the astronauts hadn’t noticed that and left the door open while they were on the surface, they might not have been able to get back inside the LEM). Fortunately, those contingencies are now simply interesting historical anecdotes. Still, it’s worth recalling that the ultimate mission was not only to get men TO the moon, but to return them safely home.

This week, as we ponder the accomplishments and planning that helped our nation put men on the moon, it’s also worth remembering that OUR “mission” is not only to get tomorrow’s retirees safely TO retirement, to take those “small steps” along the way—but ultimately to position them and their finances to carry them safely THROUGH retirement … to their “tranquility base.”

- Nevin E. Adams, JD