Historic Milestones

I had previously posted about NASA re-releasing archival footage recovered from the command center during the Apollo 11 mission.

As the historically savvy among us are aware, we are in the midst of the 40th anniversary of that mission. shortly after 9:32, on July 16th, 1969, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and the oft-forgotten Michael Collins were launched into space. Three-and-a-half days later, they touched down on the lunar surface.

Among those who saw the landing, it still ranks as on of those touchstone, "where were you, when" moments. Unfortunately, it was seven years before I was born. And the final lunar lander, Apollo 17, returned to Earth four years before my time.

The Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo missions no doubt fascinated millions of viewers, several of whom were able to use it as inspiration. Amateur scientists, backyard engineers, novice and veteran writers turned their attention to what could be next. Before long, we'd doubtless be living on the moon, exploring the other planets of our solar system, perhaps even visiting other stars.

Unfortunately, what came next was thirty five years of essentially playing it safe. The space program progressed from the putting the first American in space (Alan Shepherd in 1961) to Apollo 11 in less than ten years. In the thirty seven years since Apollo 17, NASA has sent countless shuttles into Earth's orbit (two of which unfortunately did not return), helped communications companies place thousands of satellites out there, launched a handful of unmanned probes, landers, and rovers to see what's out there, given us the Hubble telescope, and the International Space Station. All of these are impressive, but where is the drive? Where is the spirit of exploration?

Less than ten years after Charles Lindbergh made his transatlantic flight, zeppelins and airplanes began ferrying passengers back and forth "across the pond." Now, forty years after Neil Armstrong, we wonder if we will ever go to the moon again.

If any of you have information on actual, current projects for lunar missions, manned exploration, or anything like that, I would like to know about it.