Opinion: Robin McKie on the fallen dream that was the Moon landings

The Observer: It is 40 years since the words, "The Eagle has landed," sent a thrill around the world. The Apollo moon missions were to herald a new dawn of space exploration, of lunar bases, manned missions to Mars, and more. But in the decades since—and after the shuttle disasters—America's appetite for interplanetary flight dwindled. The Moon landings marked not the beginning, but the end, of our space dreams, argues Robin McKie.