I've been thinking about America's stagnant manned-flight space program, wondering if it is wise to continue funding it when so many people lack so many things. My answer, of course is a resounding yes. The case can be made that the space program leads to advances in technology and medicine or that we must learn if there is someone else "out there". But none of things are the real reasons we must advance the space program.
Whether we are alone in our vast universe or whether we have fellow citizens in a galactic civilization is irrelevant. We must continue to venture forth because that is the only way to sate the curious human spirit. We seek, we explore, we investigate. Like sailing west from a European seaport or staking a claim to land west of the Mississippi, we must continue pushing outward, searching for new information. We must never tire in our quest for adventure; we must never allow our thirst for knowledge to be quenched.
The price will steep; we will pay not just monetarily, but also with spilled blood and the hardship of the occasional failure. This, however, is a burden worth bearing. Let us be thankful that there is no shortage of men and women eager to be pioneers. Eager to thunder upward, ripping across the heavens, summoning equal parts courage and insanity. Each time they rocket into space, the perfect pairing of man and machine, our astronauts carry with them the hopes, and in some ways, the fates of an entire race. May we always be willing to peer into the darkness and reach, with fingers outstretched, for whatever is next.
7 comments:
Why is it that when I read this it came to me in Lesley Nielson's voice? I'm agree with you though, part of the human spirit thrives on conquering the unknown. Not to mention accoplishing the impossible, which space flight still seems to be.I wonder if we would've made it farther into space if there were still a Soviet Union to compete with.Once the cold war was on the race to space followed by the moon happened in a very short period of time. Things kind of took a backseat to nukes and finally fizzled in the eighties when the USSR was no longer a running threat to us. Imagine how the possibilty of actually being able to travel and explore space would excite and challenge young peoples minds! Wouldn't be neat to have a whole new generation of youth who dream about space travel like we did when we were young.I don't think young people dream about much anymore though.
Sounds good to me. I notice you didn't say anything about NASA... was that tactical or an oversight?
We could help stimulate this exploration if we started removing the restrictions on manned space flight for private organizations and let them go at it. The X-Prize already showed that there are great engineering firms that can get to space at a fraction of the price of NASA.
So I'm for it, but leave NASA out of it.
Have you read "Deception Point" by Dan Brown (Da Vinci Code author)?
An interesting insight into private space exploration vs. NASA.
Way to go Buck! beedee beedee beedee
the soundtrack to this venture in exploration has to be from Queen. ...Flash... Ahaaah... Gordon!
Bryan,
I agree with everything you wrote. I'd like to add one more why and a how.
In 1491, Queen Isabella started a government funded program to improve trade. Her seafaring astronauts didn't know where they were going and didn't know what they had found when they got there. They stuck their flag in a small island and came home.
Yet, because of their efforts a substantial part of the Americas speaks Spanish.
Early English efforts at exploration of the unknown failed, (remember Jamestown), in part because they were socialist and egalitarian in nature. Later English efforts, when coupled with private property rights ultimately led to English speaking and English values dominating North America. We in the Americas still look back to our old country roots to gain our cultural identity.
The efforts of those Western European explorers paid off big time centuries later. Because the seeds they planted here took root, when the Nazis and the Communists came, we cared enough about our "homeland" to defend it.
The United States of America has a huge, but not insurmountable lead in space exploration at the moment. However, the House of Chin and the followers of Muhammed also have vast resouces and an eye to the sky and to the future. If we don't plant our seeds in space now, someone else will.
Militarily, they will control the "high ground." Moreover, they would control the future of humanity. In that future, we would be marginalized at best and cease to exist at worst.
Gulliver was tied down by Liliputians in large part because he was asleep. The USA had, and for the moment at least, continues to have a giant lead in space exploration and technolgy. However, we are signatories to a dangerously stupid treaty( Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, Including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies) which takes away one really important advantage. People are naturally motivated to accomplishment if they can reap the reward of their effort. This treaty negates private property rights in space. See:http://www.state.gov/t/ac/trt/5181.htm
The West was won not by good hearted people who thought it would be really cool to see what's out there. It was won by people trying to make a better future and a fortune. Louis and Clark were helpful, but colonization took place because of the efforts of profit seekers. The California Gold Rush, the railroads, and the homesteaders were all seeking to make a buck. In order to be sucessful, they needed property rights and the rule of law. Without property rights and the rule of law, space exploration will be nothing but altruistic fantasy. Govt by nature is wasteful and slow. Can you imagine how far along computers would be if Bill Gates and Steve Jobs were part of a government committee instead of private individuals seeking to make their fortune?!
America needs to run, not walk, to the United Nations and tear up the treaty that prevents private ownership of property in space. Only then, will entrepenuers rush to make a buck and in the process colonize the future for America. Jim Benson at SpaceDev, Paul Allen and Burt Rutan at Scaled Composites and Sir Richard Branson of Virgin Galactic are already making this future happen. If we clear the legal obsticles that our liberal Liliputians have put in their way, Western civilization will own the future. If not, our descendents may be speaking Chinese while trying to astrolocate Mecca.
Bob and Mary Wert
Chris- I did omit NASA purposely, but mostly because I was talking in broad terms about man's adventurous spirit. I do agree with you (and Bob and Mary) that the free enterprise should be the main catalyst of further exploration.
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