America and by extension the best of us. Just a quarter century after the end of the Second World War, inspired by President Kennedy, American technology had pointed towards the possibilities of achievement in a New Century. In 1969 space exploration had moved from Science Fiction to Science Fact. Last week I interviewed Charles Duke who was the ??voice?? of Mission Control for the first Apollo 11 moon landing ?? and became himself the 10th man to walk on the moon three years later. Now aged 76 he talked to me about the exciting possibilities of space tourism (he would love to travel on Virgin Galactic to see the darkness of outer space once more) and still believes we might one day have hotels on the moon. I feel sorry that children today can no longer enjoy the uplifting excitement of watching a moonshot (or even share in the thrill of watching Concorde fly). But, like Charles Duke, I believe an end to the current doldrums will comeand the world can again achieve great things. But I will never forget that extraordinary night in July 1969 when, for the first time in my life, I stayed awake all night and gazed with wonder on the moon and knew that another man was standing there.