NASA. Does it stand for Not Another Space (Flight) America?
NASA and the moon landing was a game changer for society. This is a thought-provoking article from Redmond’s Reviews. Enjoy.
NASA AND THE MOON LANDING OF JULY 20, 1969
When I was much younger, I knew this boy, the first time the United States moon landing happened he was about 4 or so. Then, over the next few years, more landings happened again a few times. A dark night, a clear sky with as much view of the stars and moon that the Brooklyn night sky can give, the boy would look up to the sky and wonder.
Can he see the men walking on the moon? Can he see the American flag that was placed on its ground? Why, of course not, but he tried any way. If he looked close enough, could he see the lunar vehicle, making tracks like a dune buggy over the moons surface? No he could not, but he tried any way.
He tried because NASA, our NASA, conquered space, and this was just the beginning. What that child did not know is all the companies that worked hard and the people they employed who made that trip possible. These people along with NASA tamed space! What the boy started to learn soon after, as Sky Lab plopped to the ground was that maybe we were not traveling farther into space with manned space flight. To learn, to discover, and to push the limits.
NASA AND NOW
The place of travel and fascination called NASA still did important work, but it seemed to becoming filled with workers in white collars and or professor types, and less of dare devils and well trained cowboys taming the unknown. Now as a child grows he or she learns what is really ‘in the sausage’ and a new perspective arises.
However, it does not seem that long ago, that Russian and American were meeting and shaking hands for the first time in space. Now all these many years later, we will need to do the same, since we have no active vehicle to take us to space. We need to rely on a ride, hitch hiking (at a HUGE cost) if you will, until such time that our next vehicle for manned space flight is rolled out.
NASA has done some truly mind-blowing great things, and they will argue that they have a roll that is much more than manned space flight. But does not one think back to those times, in the vault of our minds, and hear the words, ‘LIFT OFF, and get inspired and nervous all at the same time?
When I see NASA now, I tend not to think of travel in space to conquer what we do not know; I see bureaucracy and a constant merry-go-round of justification for its perceived mundane results. Am I noticing an elitist snobbery that seems to talk down to those like you and me who want to see it succeed?
NASA HITCHES RIDES WITH RUSSIA FOR NOW
China and Russia move ahead in manned space flight and where are we? Why do we not know? Ask yourself this question, when was the last time your child looked to space and said, ‘I want to explore the moon, go to Mars, discover what it is like to float in space?’ We seem to be losing a generation of wonder, and the want of being an astronaut, and instead, seem to be building in NASA, a place that is just another governmental place to punch a clock.
Being raised on the premise of, ‘We will go to the moon and return,’ it is hard to imagine that all these years later, we need to wait at the proverbial bus stop now to get into space.
Written By: Darren Redmond
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