When will the next "giant leap for mankind" happen?

Image and video hosting by TinyPic Although I consider myself middle aged, I'm not quite old enough to remember the historic day of July 20th, 1969. I was only six and a half and not even a bit concerned with such things as a man walking on the moon. It would have been nice to be at least ten years older. I must have been somewhat influenced by the space program back then because I do remember wanting to be an astronaut when I grew up. I also remember getting an "A" on an elementary school assignment where I built a Saturn rocket model that included the removable command module and lunar lander. Anyway, the reason I'm talking about this is because of the 40th anniversary of the first landing on the moon. It still amazes me that NASA actually accomplished it, especially with only 1960's technology. The three men pictured above certainly deserve to be forever honored for their skill and heroism. I wonder if they were totally aware of the enormous risk that was involved with all the things that could possibly go wrong on their mission. If you want to witness some of those risks along with the teamwork and spirit of NASA, a great movie to watch is Apollo 13 or From Earth to the Moon. There is one thing, however, that bothers me a little with regards to the space program - how far we haven't come since 1969. Think about it. It only took 66 years from man's first flight by the Wright Brothers to man landing on the moon. You would think forty years past that point we would already be colonizing Mars. Unfortunately, with accident setbacks and budget problems, traveling to other planets is still science fiction. It would be an interesting coincidence if the first landing on Mars was exactly 66 years from the first moon landing. If so, I hope I'm still around to witness that historic and amazing event. Image and video hosting by TinyPic

3 Your comments?

EH said...

Are you familiar with the sci-fi premise wherein the "long voyage traveler in a slow-moving space craft" is met in mid-passage by a more revolutionary craft that has caught up with him/her to let them know that their "old-technology-based" trip has become irrelevant? Similarly, I think it is an exciting possibility to think that all of the current long-term plans could be rendered irrelevant one fine morning, and that we find ourselves roaming the martian surface in 2020 instead of 2035 or whatever date the current conservative estimate is.

July 25, 2009 at 10:23 AM
Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author. July 25, 2009 at 10:40 AM
Unknown said...

I hope you're right. What I didn't get into in that blog is I wonder if any of us will still be around in 2035. With all the hatred in the world and the ever increasing technology, we may end up destroying ourselves long before we can reach out to Mars.

July 25, 2009 at 10:42 AM