Last week was the 40th anniversary of man's first steps on the moon. Apollo 11 with three men; Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Micheal Collins made history that day that's never been repeated. I've been to the Space Centre at Cape Canaveral in Florida and it's pretty impressive. The space flight simulator is better than any fairground ride and you get to meet real astronauts who speak there daily about their experiences.

It's hard to imagine men walking on the moon now let alone 40 years ago.

Forty years ago my granddad was driving around in a Ford Anglia van with home made wooden seats in the back (he worked in a timber mill, everything was made of wood!) It was the height of sophistication, so my Nan thought after years of travelling on the back of a scooter or in a home made sidecar (wooden of course).

Compare that to the engineering and design of cars today, that makes the space engineering of 40 years ago seem all the more impressive. Although apparently when Buzz Aldrin accidentally broke a switch used to activate the ascent engines he fixed it with a ball point pen!

The moon landing was a huge boost to the USA's morale, it cheered the nation after Vietnam and the Americans were proud of the achievement because they beat the Russians in the race to have men on the moon.

Buzz Aldrin has said that we, as a planet should invest in the quest to go to Mars now. He thinks that it's possible by 2035. He was quoted as saying last week: "This is where our future lies and I say to Mr Obama, let's go for it, let's invest in our future."

Space exploration is very expensive; the Apollo 11 mission cost £93 billion in today's money, but my point is; with the earth in such a bad way at the moment with natural disasters, terrorism, and swine flu, maybe, quite worryingly, he may be right, our future may indeed lie on another planet! Maybe we, as a planet, can't afford not to invest in more space exploration.