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One giant leap for a maze, one hard place to get out of
"THAT'S one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind", may have been his immortal words as he touched down on the moon 40 years ago.
But Neil Armstrong's first steps on the lunar surface could be regarded as a walk in the park compared with getting out of the latest York Maze, which opened yesterday on an astronaut theme to mark the anniversary.
The 1m 45-acre attraction has become the largest of its kind in Europe, and one of the biggest in the world, since it was started by farmer Tom Pearcy six years ago as a means of farm diversification following the foot and mouth crisis.
Previous eye-catching themes have included a Viking longship, a spider's web, Flying Scotsman, Big Ben, Star Trek, James Bond, and – last year – the Statue of Liberty.
This year, to mark the 40th anniversary of the first Apollo Moon landings, Mr Pearcy has cut a giant image of an astronaut from his field of maize.
The extensive network of pathways forms an intricate maze measuring more than 1,000ft long, painstakingly carved out of more than a million maize plants.
Launching the maze yesterday, Mr Pearcy said: "Each year I try to choose a maze design which is both topical and makes a great aerial image.
"Marking the 40th anniversary of the first manned flight to the Moon is my personal tribute to the endeavour and bravery of those lunar pioneers."
Space expert Colin Pillinger, who has worked with NASA since the 1960s and led the UK's Beagle 2 mission to Mars which disappeared on the way to the planet's surface, was also impressed.
He said: "What man achieved 40 years ago was fantastic and it is right that it should be marked with celebrations and events around the world."
For many years the Space Race and moon landings were regarded as being consigned to history as a Sixties dream which had become a casualty of US Government spending cuts.
Mr Pillinger, whose work with NASA since the 1960s has involved the analysis of Apollo moon rock samples, claimed that the dream had never really gone away. He added: "But there are highs and lows, and today is a particular high."
He blames the hiatus on the switch from the Apollo programme to the space shuttle which was then more than 10 years in development.
Other unmanned missions were launched to Mars but they were few and far between, and he added: "It took so long to get there the whole thing kind of fell off the media radar."
The founder and first head of the Planetary and Space Sciences Research Institute at The Open University, he is currently working with NASA on how Beagle 2 technology may be used to establish a permanent astronaut base at the lunar South Pole.
He said: "York's Astronaut maize maze is a fun and an eye-catching contribution to the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission and will hopefully help fire the imagination of families, inspiring the next generation of space explorers."
The new site off Elvington Lane on the outskirts of York also includes a tractor-trailer ride maze, a maze of illusions and crazy golf in a maze. The actual astronaut maze is 18 acres in size – the equivalent of eight football pitches.
The maze will be open daily until Sunday, September 6, from 10am until 6.30pm, with last admission at 4.30pm. More information is available on
www.yorkmaze.co.uk or ring 01904 415364.
Apollo 11 crew urge mars mission
Astronauts who first landed on the Moon are urging their successors to travel to Mars.
The crew of Apollo 11, Buzz Aldrin, Michael Collins and Neil Armstrong, spoke at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington. Aldrin urged "a new mission of exploration".
Collins said: "Sometimes I think I flew to the wrong place. Mars was always my favourite as a kid and it still is today."
First man on the Moon Neil Armstrong described the space race as "the ultimate peaceful competition: USA versus USSR".
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Weather for Yorkshire
Saturday 26 May 2012
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