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.
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!
Matt Blaze
Bava