Our Nation's Greatest Accomplishment
Great because no one else has ever done it.
A recent reunion shot of the crew of Apollo 11.
The three greatest positive historic events of the Twentieth Century
1) The rebirth of Israel.
2) The retaking of the Temple Mount by Israel.
3) Apollo 11.
The moon is the first major land mass of which we can name the date and name of the first person to walk on it.
I was sitting in my living room with my family and two elderly neighbors (one of whom was a WWI vet) as we watched the indistinct images of the first moonwalk. I, being all of 12, felt such great hope for the future. We were on our way. We would have a large space station soon with a small base on the moon. Another ten years and there would be tourists going to the moon. twenty to twenty five years and we would do the same to Mars.
Quid non? Why Not?
We're fooling around in low-earth orbit. Yes it's expensive but the nation that dominates space would gain a lot on earth as well. Some say there is nothing of value on the moon, but we have barely even looked at it. Think of it! Billions of years of no air or water! What compounds would occur in nature if they didn't react to contact with water or air? What medical or industrial use would we find for such compounds that would almost have to exist? We have no idea of what's really up there. The cure for cancer? The cure for AIDS? Something that can be used as another source of power? Will China find out before we do? We're not going to find them in a few hundred pounds of rock.
We have a formal plan to go back but do we still have the national will to do it? Or have the mindless screaming mobs of the blame America first crowd totally sapped us of our national will to even survive, let alone prosper?
A recent reunion shot of the crew of Apollo 11.
The three greatest positive historic events of the Twentieth Century
1) The rebirth of Israel.
2) The retaking of the Temple Mount by Israel.
3) Apollo 11.
The moon is the first major land mass of which we can name the date and name of the first person to walk on it.
I was sitting in my living room with my family and two elderly neighbors (one of whom was a WWI vet) as we watched the indistinct images of the first moonwalk. I, being all of 12, felt such great hope for the future. We were on our way. We would have a large space station soon with a small base on the moon. Another ten years and there would be tourists going to the moon. twenty to twenty five years and we would do the same to Mars.
Quid non? Why Not?
We're fooling around in low-earth orbit. Yes it's expensive but the nation that dominates space would gain a lot on earth as well. Some say there is nothing of value on the moon, but we have barely even looked at it. Think of it! Billions of years of no air or water! What compounds would occur in nature if they didn't react to contact with water or air? What medical or industrial use would we find for such compounds that would almost have to exist? We have no idea of what's really up there. The cure for cancer? The cure for AIDS? Something that can be used as another source of power? Will China find out before we do? We're not going to find them in a few hundred pounds of rock.
We have a formal plan to go back but do we still have the national will to do it? Or have the mindless screaming mobs of the blame America first crowd totally sapped us of our national will to even survive, let alone prosper?
posted by shoprat at 12:57 PM
8 Comments:
How well I recall this day 40 years ago!
I was sitting in this room, which belonged to my grandmother back then, with my parents, my grandmother, my aunt, my cousin, my cousin's wife, and my two-year-old cousin. All of us except the youngest were captivated by what we saw on that small black and white TV. Man walking on the moon!
If I recall correctly, the media played Frank Sinatra's "Fly Me to the Moon" on the voyage out and Dean Martin's "Houston" on the return voyage.
I admit that it still seems impossible to me that man set foot on "the man in the moon."
When it happened my mind 'said' OF COURSE--
Now I see the visionaries are-for the most part- gone...
The 'change America to the lowest common denominator' crowd are in control...
I'm not giving up---I do see young people who are stepping to the fore...They just need encouragement...
Thanks for posting the photo of Apollo 'pioneers'...
C-CS
I was just a few years younger but old enough to remember it. It was incredible
Yes, it was a glorious moment. On your first two milestones regarding Israel, I'd say that they are the cause of much of our political problems today. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against Israel, but if it was not reconstituted in its present form things might be a lot simpler.
Lunar exploration is not in the cards, SR. Sure, you can't tell what you'll find by analysing a sack of rocks, but the fact is we got the the big no-prize up there, right? No gold, no oil, just sand. As a Navy vet I'm sure you'd agree that pointing out scientific might at studying and saving the oceans of Earth and the teeming mulititudes of life, including the most intelligent life there is next to humans is more worthy an endevour than skipping around the Moon in a spacesuit. Think of the "new life, and new civilizations" that await us below the waves. If we really tried, maybe we could even learn to communicate with dolphins and whales. Jean Michelle Costeau lamented that if he only had one tenth of the funding going to the Mars Rover he could solve untold mysteries of the deep. The oceans, Shoprat, is mankind's true destiny. Not the stars.
your last paragraph is scary, shoprat; imagine our even having to ASK THAT? and we must.
Shoprat: Thanks for pointing out the REAL "Yes We Can!".
Tim: Israel was constituted in a much smaller form. But the rabidly antisemitic neighboring Arab states could not tolerate that, and tried to exterminate the Israelis. This resulted in Israel being forced to expand with large buffer zones to protect itself from further such aggression. A very reasonable act.
In the instance where an Arab state swore off its intent to exterminate the Israelis, Israel gave all of the buffer zone land back (to Egypt). Since there was no longer a pressing need to hold it.
The problem in that part of the world is not the existence of Israeli. The real problem is the deep-seated (and centuries old) hatred and intolerance some people there have for Jews. And if these people had their way and Israel ceased to exist (and its people all ashes in the ovens), they'd expand their holy war to Jews outside of the Middle East and to other targets close to home.
You're right, the space program is not part of the national consciousness anymore. With the pathetic lack of American history that is(n't) taught in American History classes, it's no wonder anybody under 30 doesn't give a hoot.
I still get goosebumps when I think about that first lunar landing.
By going to the moon, we proved that we can do what we decide to do.
That we have neither been back nor gone elsewhere proves that we don't really want to.
How sad!
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