Space- the final frontier.

 Space- the final frontier. 

It hardly seems like 52 years ago but the truth is time does indeed fly when you're enjoying  life. When Neil Armstrong became the first man to step onto the surface of the Moon for the first time in space history it was widely felt that no man or woman would ever think about doing it over and over again. True, Yuri Gagarin did break the glass ceiling years beforehand by becoming the first Russian cosmonaut to find out exactly what was going on in other galaxies far away from our planet. But he did and 52 years later the Russians have done it again. They're exploring outer space and the one notable difference this time is that there is an element of showbusiness about this one extraordinary moment of our lives. 

Today a Russian actress, a Russian film producer and a vastly experienced Russian astronaut or cosmonaut to give him a more modern title, launched their rocket from the International Space Station and none of us could believe what we were being told. In the old days your conventional astronaut had an immense store of knowledge about this intriguing phenomena. They pulled on their heavy space suits, waved fondly to their kith and kin, smiled for the cameras and found themselves to be the centre of global attention.

But this time the whole operation is taking place against a backdrop of producers, directors with clapperboards and Hollywood enthusiastically revelling in an eye catching cinematic project. In 2021 they do things rather differently and somewhat surrealistically. 52 years ago it all seemed fairly new to us and you found yourself wondering what was happening to the world in an environment that seemed about as far removed as it was possible to be. 

Some of us were children at the time and when we awoke to all of the Apollo missions, you were almost attending your first class on the subject of astronomy, a subject that couldn't possibly be explained to us in extensive detail at so tender an age. So you settled down in front of the TV, gazed incredulously at the astonishing events that were about to unfold before us and just gasped with stunned amazement. 

The late and monocled Sir Patrick Moore, a man with an encyclopaedic understanding of Space and the planets spinning around us, went into chapter and verse with poetic descriptions of craters, modules, dust, the lights reflecting onto the surface of the Moon and the different manifestations of everything space related. Then something pretty special and epically significant took place. 

Neil Armstrong, accompanied by Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, set out to explore life on the Moon, docking on a wondrously ground breaking mission that would propel them into the stratosphere, the first three astronauts to jump and bounce about on the Moon because it seemed like a good idea at the time. In 1969 nobody knew you could go that far because all of the scientific developments that had taken place thus far hadn't quite bargained on man landing on the Moon.

So we sat there fascinated, wholly absorbed, immersed in this earth shattering revelation. We listened intently to the latest news, the long vapour of smoke that had trailed that first Apollo 11 rocket and then turned our sights to something that seemed so utterly inexplicable and indescribable. We looked wide eyed at the rocket soaring into a distant place where there were no cars, buses, lorries, vans, trains and supermarkets.

And then you closed your eyes because you thought you were imagining it all. But it was for real. Here were three highly intelligent and qualified men  embarking on the kind of journey that some of us felt was a figment of our imagination. Then we rubbed our retinas, moved closer to the TV and, in a moment of fantasy, tried to envisage ourselves as part of the same experience. Some of us hadn't a clue what was going on because ignorance was indeed bliss. But come on, this is no joke. Man had landed on the Moon. 

Nevertheless in a remote corner of Kazakhstan, the Rassovet module shot into the sky as if it was just another day at the office. In no particular order there is Russian actress Yulia Pereslid, a little known actress who, when she isn't treading the boards in local Russian theatres, just felt she needed another challenge. She was keen, eager, inquisitive and determined to have a good time. Besides, extra terrestrial voyages into outer space are surely good for the soul. Or are they?

Then there was Anton Shkaplerov, formerly a Commander of the Space Station so he must have known what he was doing. He's a veteran of these momentous space missions, thoroughly well informed on all the finer points of space travel. Our Anton is hugely knowledgeable on the big, wide world out there and he's got the T-shirt, mug and all of those stories about Cape Canaveral from long ago when the world was much younger. 

Finally there is Kilin Shipenko, a film producer who can only see the movie potential in all of these shenanigans. Shipenko wants to bring this latest space exploration to the small screen. Of course we've seen films about space on innumerable occasions but this could just blow you away. This one has got an actress in space, a concept that seemed so unbelievable that if somebody had told you about it, you'd have probably laughed out loudly.

However here we are on Planet Earth in a pleasant state of recovery from the most devastating virus ever known and the chances are that you may have to adjust your hold on reality yet again. So this is the time to dig the telescope out of your attic tonight, gaze at the millions of stars in the sky and then look out for Expedition crew 65 crew on the Soyuz M5- 19 rocket destined to position itself nicely into its very cosy niche in history. 

So we wish our hugely ambitious cosmonauts well as they go on their way. This is more than one giant step for mankind or perhaps womankind. Helen Sharman became the first woman to don a space suit in modern times and we can only hope that if they do find anything unusual up there in outer space they make sure they give us something else to talk about for the foreseeable future. It's Space, but not as we know it. Or maybe we do.