What we need is another space race., page 1
Pages:
ATS Members have flagged this thread 0 times
Topic started on 10-8-2004 @ 08:18 AM by mwm1331
When JFK made his now famous speech in which he promised that America would put a man on the moon by the end of the decade, our fledgling space technology was nowhere near equal to the task. A very prominant mathematician even "proved" that because of the number of parts needed for a moon trip and the statistical probabillity of at least one of those parts failing thus causing failure of the mission, that it was impossible to achieve. Yet despite the lack of computers, or advanced rocketry that we enjoy today, on july 20 1969 neil armstrong emerged from the lunar lander and spoke those now famous words. The doubters still persisit to this day who say that we could not and did not achieve the dream of landing a man on another hevenly body and returning him safely home, Just as they did in the days leading up to Apollo 11. And yet despite the relatively primitive state of our technology n the 60s and 70s America was able to achieve something extrordinary. But while the bulk of the nation has viewed the astronauts, engneers and scientists who made the program work as heroes (and rightly so) The people who are truly responsible for the great leap forward that the U.S. made is the Sovet Union. Had we not been n the midst of a "cold war" and our national pride not been at stake, President Kennedy would never have had the courage to charge America with achieving such an improbable vision. Today NASA has access to resources which would have caused the engneers of yesteryear to faint from near orgasmic pleasure, Technologies which would have boggled the mind of even the most brilliant scientists, and, once again a President who has charged them with a great vision. And yet despite all of theese advantages the two greaset which NASA enjoyed in the 60s and 70s are gone. There is no great public thrst for exploration and no great adversary to chalenge our national pride, and without these two factors the pace of explortion and achievement will slow to near halt. Yes we have sent probes to jupiter and saturn, launched dozens of robots throughout the cosmos, and seen further into the universe (and thus time) than ever before, but without the national will of the American people firmly behind them NASA can not make the bold leaps that they did in the past. Though the idea of colonies on the moon and mars is exiting to some to others it is the height of irelevance, and without a challenge to our natonal pride it will remain so. We need a space race, we need an adversary, we need someone, anyone to challenge our pride and goad our slumbering giant into impassioned action. As I think upon the world I see our historic enemies shatered, divided, broke, and unworthy of our competition, those ene,ies who are still dangerous are not the sort to loft men into the heavens, and our alles successes are usually as a result of our guidance. So who then will Challenge the United States of America? Who has the resources, the technology, and the will to throw down the guantlet and challenge our supremacy? Who has the potiential to become the adversary of the only nation to ever send men into the heavens to touch the face of god? There is only one country who can fit this description, only one country who can be the savior of our space programs by stepping nto the ring and going toe to toe wth the red white and blue, China. So I extend a challeng to China, its peoples and its leaders, step up to the plate and force us to throw the heat, Be the adversary we deserve and demand, for in a cmpetion between U.S. and you, (pun intended) regardless of who is left standing when the final bell tolls and the smoke clears and the time for counting coup has come, regardless of who loses the world entire wins.
Pages:     ^^TOP^^



Newfound "super-Earth"
  Posted 10 days ago with 56 member flags
Enceladus Backlit by Saturn
  Posted 4 days ago with 50 member flags
Toronto teens send Lego man into space: video
  Posted 18 days ago with 28 member flags
Current Potential Habitable Worlds - Update February 2012
  Posted 2 days ago with 26 member flags
Amazing new photo of Earth. The Blue Marble 2012
  Posted 14 days ago with 22 member flags
Stunning close view of Mercury
  Posted 3 days ago with 20 member flags
NASA Probe Captures 1st Video of Moon\'s Far Side
  Posted 11 days ago with 19 member flags