An early, but still vivid, formative memory of mine was watching the noisy, black & white video of the Apollo 11 mission. It was partly responsible for my enduring sense of awe and possibility, and probably the moment I knew I had to be a scientist or engineer.
Our world is going to hell in many ways, to be sure, but we're going to the moon again today, and I can't help but get excited about that.
The space program was inseparable from the cold war that gave birth to it, but it also transcended it. It was, by design or not, about far more than rockets or space. It was about inspiration and imagination.
For a generation of a certain kind of nerdy kid, there was *nothing* cooler than space, rockets, exploration. For many of us, the feeling stuck.
We’re spending an enormous amount of time, money, and effort, requiring vision and courage, to do something big where the objective isn’t to kill anyone or conquer anything, but just to perhaps learn some interesting things about the universe in which we live.
Maybe some politicians get some bragging rights.
I’m OK with that, even if I don’t care for the politicians.
If it's any further consolation: I (I'm guessing the younger of the two of us) have always thought reverently on the Apollo 11 moon mission but don't know off the top of my head which president it was.
I'm just glad they didn't kill anybody yet.
@mattblaze It was a particularly nice night for a launch. It had been hazy much of the day, cloud cover didn't really break up until after 4:00 pm.
Sorry you weren't here to FL to see it but maybe you'll catch the next one.
I loved the space program (still do). The Apollo landings were to me a pinnacle of wonder and human achievement. Now I read about Artemis and can think only about exploitation and despoilation extending beyond the earth. Times have changed and I have changed. Alas!
i remember the early apollo missions on TV and being blown away at the idea that someone so far from earth could send video/audio to my TV. surely getting from that to a star trek universe was doable, maybe even in my lifetime. after all, my grandparents had gone from the wright brothers to manned spaceflight in their lifetime.
NASA hasn't been perfect but there's still a bit of that science magic in space exploration.
Matt Blaze
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