Too hard, too expensive...

"Thank goodness we have innovators like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos. With their help, maybe NASA can get off their earthly butts and get back in the game. I am tired of the Apollo Program looking like ancient history to our grandies. They deserve the same excitement we had fifty years ago." 

The race to the Moon (phase II) is on! Get ready folks, because this summer, it could start getting crowded up there! By whom? Aliens? Nope - Earthlings. Seems like the rest of the world is catching up with what we did fifty years ago. That is, the rest of the world - except us.

Here is a stubborn fact which I can't get over. Gemini, Apollo - every flight was fly by the seat of your pants. The science used to propel these huge rockets into space, and then to safely bring astronauts home again, was barely ready. Sometimes, the proverbial "spit and chewing gum". Truthfully, other than the three astronauts we tragically lost in the fire on the launch pad, it is nothing short of a miracle we did not lose a whole lot than we did.

But we did not. We did flight after flight, and had Americans walking on the Moon, and then bringing them back home again. Fifty years ago. Today, our technology is a parsec or so better than it was in 1969. Heck, our cell phones have more computing power than Apollo 11 had. And yet - India, China, and maybe Israel are going to the Moon before us. What up with that? We have the technology, and the know how, to have established a Moon base by now. We could be mining Helium 3 and sending it back to Earth. 

So, what is it? Too hard? Too expensive? Let's face facts. We have lost our edge. Explorers huh? Most of Antarctica is still not explored. 90% of our oceans are still not explored. Over 99% of the Moon is still not explored. And how about Mars? One would have thought 50 years ago, once we conquered the Moon, that Mars was next. What up with that? The big news out of NASA is now we are thinking of sending a helicopter to Mars in our next flight. How about some Earthlings instead? Come on NASA! Grow a pair! You did fifty years ago!

Well, the die is cast. I guess this summer we will just be spectators, watching the rest of the world venture up into space. My Leftie friends think going into space is a folly anyhow, since we still have unmet needs here on Earth. JFK would hear that and have none of it. Why can't we do both? We are after all, the country which saved the world (twice) through bravery, innovation and determination.

Thank goodness we have innovators like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos. With their help, maybe NASA can get off their earthly butts and get back in the game. I am tired of the Apollo Program looking like ancient history to our grandies. They deserve the same excitement we had fifty years ago.