I’d like to say I remember being crowded around the black and white tv set when we saw the first footage of Neil Armstrong walking on the moon. But that was before my time. I don’t know where I was when I saw the footage. I don’t know how I old I was, or if the significance even registered. No, my first “I know exactly where I was” memory was watching the Challenger explode when I was in second grade. I suppose the same goes true for many of my generation… and maybe that is why the space program no longer receives the reverence it deserves or inspires new children to look towards the stars.
Forty years is a long time, but like the CIA it seems NASA’s achievements have gone largely unknown. We know the tragedies and mishaps… the Challenger explosion, the Hubble problems, the cost overruns, the loss of the Columbia crew… and every time a launch is scrubbed or a heat tile comes off. But what can we say about the achievements? As someone who has always found himself enthralled by space, dreamed of the stars, and attended Space Camp as a youth… I don’t even know enough about the achievements. If I don’t, how many do?
NASA keeps a good archive of improvements in our life due to the Space Program. From helping guide aid to Earthquake victims, saving lives of cardiac patients, to uncovering our colonial past, we all benefit from the achievement and exploration of our Space Pioneers. But even with the more ubiquitous benefits such as GPS systems and satellite radio, the Space Program just isn’t sexy anymore. Is it the “race” we need to build excitement? Are we content having the moon as our final frontier?
I don’t know. But as we decorate the nursery for our yet to be born son, I will be installing a ceiling fan that depicts the solar system on the blades and a globe painted like the earth. As my son looks up I want him to dream like I dreamt, not just about a great nation, but the countless wonders beyond. There are no bounds to the heights he can reach, and maybe he will be the one to take the first steps on Mars.
Forty years is a long time not to dream. Maybe on this anniversary we will start looking up once again.
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Follow the Apollo 11 landing from 40 years ago at We Choose the Moon.
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