Friday, July 24, 2009

BUT WHEN IS THE NEXT GIANT LEAP?

An editorial.

Sadly, the Space Age is over.
It climaxed with the Apollo 11 moon landing.
The subsequent Apollo missions, followed by Skylab, Mir, the Space Shuttle, and the International Space Station are all fantastic achievements, but far from the dreams of those wide eyed stargazers from 1969 who wondered "What next?"
Today we work on developing new technologies of the Computer Age.
The Hubble Telescope (which sadly will no longer be serviced!) and various other satellites and space probes are great, but the thrill and excitement like what surrounded the first physical explorations of outer space are long gone.
Even the Space Shuttle program is being phased out as NASA prepares to start booking passage on the rockets of others for trips to the International Space Station.
The information and knowledge gained from the achievements of the Computer Age cannot be denied, but in time Humanity will also need/crave that physical challenge again.
Sadly, it may not be within my lifetime, but will we ever have a moon base (without the purpose and results of Space: 1999) or a manned mission to Mars that does not end as depicted in Capricorn One?
I sincerely hope so. For science fiction is great. But the reality can be even better.

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