To Boldly Go?
I have said previously that I am a confirmed, unrepentant Star Trek fan, but I am also something of a student of America's space history.
If that makes me a geek, then so be it!
I just finished reading three books, all pertaining to the American Space Program of the 1950's, 60's and the 1970's. Those are: "Last Man on the Moon" by Gene Cernan, "Failure Is Not an Option" by Gene Kranz, and "We Seven", a book written by the original Project Mercury astronauts and published by Time Magazine in the 1960's.
I am currently reading "Hidden Figures," the book by Margot Lee Shetterly, upon which the movie of the same name was based. About two months ago, I read "First Man", James Hanson's biography of Neil Armstrong, the first human being to set foot on our nearest space neighbor, which was also made into a movie.
Gene Cernan truly was the last man on the moon, having been the commander of Apollo 17, the last manned flight to the Moon. The seven original Mercury Astronauts included names like John Glenn, Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom, Scott Carpenter and Gordon Cooper; all household names at the time.
How many people now can tell you the name of any current astronaut?
Gene Kranz was a Mission Controller during all of Projects Mercury, Gemini and Apollo. Although the astronauts themselves get the glory, Kranz's book has enlightened me as to just how much America's space triumphs would not have happened were it not for the flight controllers at Mission Control. Shetterly's book tells the story of the "computers"--the human mathematicians, a large number of whom were African-American women, who overcame the bigotry and prejudice of the time, to become instrumental in America's space successes.
Gene Kranz wrote, in 2000, "...Three decades ago, in a top story of the century, Americans placed six flags on the Moon. Today, we no longer try for new and bold space achievements; instead, we celebrate the anniversaries of the past."
I think that visionaries like Elon Musk might differ with Kranz. A great deal of that spirit of challenge and achievement appears alive and well at Space X, Blue Horizon and other companies. But are those private companies motivated by commercial considerations, or something more transcendent? Has NASA become just another expensive government bureaucracy?
Only they can answer that question.
Gene Cernan has spoken about how his granddaughter asked him if he really had been to the moon, and how she was unsure if he was telling her the truth or not. One of the fun privileges of being a grandparent is, after all, enlarging and exaggerating our lives in the eyes of our grand-kids, right?
But Cernan makes a good point. When I was a kid, I was glued to the TV watching launches and recoveries. My kids grew up in the 1980's, and only noticed the Challenger and Columbia missions, where things went horribly wrong. A Moon landing wasn't even on their radar.
Yes, there are more than enough challenges here on Earth to keep us busy without venturing out into the cosmos. Those challenges were with us in the 1960's, 70's and 80's. They were with us as the International Space Station was being assembled in orbit, and they will no doubt be with us forever. Will we simply commemorate the "anniversaries of the past," or do, as President John F. Kennedy challenged, these things "...not because they are easy, but because they are hard."
So the question is, have we, as a nation, or even as a species, lost the "right stuff?" Can we see beyond our petty power struggles?
Will we boldly go?
We surely have the technological prowess, and the resources. We have the people to get the job done, but do we have the collective will?
A good friend once said that her wish for me was that I would be around long enough to hug and kiss my granddaughter as she gets ready to board a rocket to Mars.
Perhaps if I wish on a star...
If that makes me a geek, then so be it!
I just finished reading three books, all pertaining to the American Space Program of the 1950's, 60's and the 1970's. Those are: "Last Man on the Moon" by Gene Cernan, "Failure Is Not an Option" by Gene Kranz, and "We Seven", a book written by the original Project Mercury astronauts and published by Time Magazine in the 1960's.
I am currently reading "Hidden Figures," the book by Margot Lee Shetterly, upon which the movie of the same name was based. About two months ago, I read "First Man", James Hanson's biography of Neil Armstrong, the first human being to set foot on our nearest space neighbor, which was also made into a movie.
Gene Cernan truly was the last man on the moon, having been the commander of Apollo 17, the last manned flight to the Moon. The seven original Mercury Astronauts included names like John Glenn, Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom, Scott Carpenter and Gordon Cooper; all household names at the time.
How many people now can tell you the name of any current astronaut?
Gene Kranz was a Mission Controller during all of Projects Mercury, Gemini and Apollo. Although the astronauts themselves get the glory, Kranz's book has enlightened me as to just how much America's space triumphs would not have happened were it not for the flight controllers at Mission Control. Shetterly's book tells the story of the "computers"--the human mathematicians, a large number of whom were African-American women, who overcame the bigotry and prejudice of the time, to become instrumental in America's space successes.
Gene Kranz wrote, in 2000, "...Three decades ago, in a top story of the century, Americans placed six flags on the Moon. Today, we no longer try for new and bold space achievements; instead, we celebrate the anniversaries of the past."
I think that visionaries like Elon Musk might differ with Kranz. A great deal of that spirit of challenge and achievement appears alive and well at Space X, Blue Horizon and other companies. But are those private companies motivated by commercial considerations, or something more transcendent? Has NASA become just another expensive government bureaucracy?
Only they can answer that question.
Gene Cernan has spoken about how his granddaughter asked him if he really had been to the moon, and how she was unsure if he was telling her the truth or not. One of the fun privileges of being a grandparent is, after all, enlarging and exaggerating our lives in the eyes of our grand-kids, right?
But Cernan makes a good point. When I was a kid, I was glued to the TV watching launches and recoveries. My kids grew up in the 1980's, and only noticed the Challenger and Columbia missions, where things went horribly wrong. A Moon landing wasn't even on their radar.
Yes, there are more than enough challenges here on Earth to keep us busy without venturing out into the cosmos. Those challenges were with us in the 1960's, 70's and 80's. They were with us as the International Space Station was being assembled in orbit, and they will no doubt be with us forever. Will we simply commemorate the "anniversaries of the past," or do, as President John F. Kennedy challenged, these things "...not because they are easy, but because they are hard."
So the question is, have we, as a nation, or even as a species, lost the "right stuff?" Can we see beyond our petty power struggles?
Will we boldly go?
We surely have the technological prowess, and the resources. We have the people to get the job done, but do we have the collective will?
A good friend once said that her wish for me was that I would be around long enough to hug and kiss my granddaughter as she gets ready to board a rocket to Mars.
Perhaps if I wish on a star...
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