My Dad worked for NASA before I was born, during the glory days, for a short while. In his closet he had some magazines from the time period that he just couldn't bring himself to throw out - some of them had proposed Mars missions with Apollo technology.
I grew up with this increasingly bitter and angry government worker, and with a USA which pretty much had given up on space in favor of corporate expansion and fanatical fear of the Soviet Union. Then later it was just corporate expansion and fiscal dreams. And then later it was the internet and more corporate stuff and fear of some "terrorists" lurking somewhere.
Some other country is going to be the guys who lead the way back into space. Maybe India, maybe ESA with the Russian Federation, and I know that the Chinese are going to be up there. Americans, no. We are to space exploration the way Portugal was to exploring the New World and India. But I guess that's okay, because we have World of Warcraft and Second Life to dream of, and we can figure out ways to keep exploiting our petroleum resources.
I grew up with this increasingly bitter and angry government worker, and with a USA which pretty much had given up on space in favor of corporate expansion and fanatical fear of the Soviet Union. Then later it was just corporate expansion and fiscal dreams. And then later it was the internet and more corporate stuff and fear of some "terrorists" lurking somewhere.
Some other country is going to be the guys who lead the way back into space. Maybe India, maybe ESA with the Russian Federation, and I know that the Chinese are going to be up there. Americans, no. We are to space exploration the way Portugal was to exploring the New World and India. But I guess that's okay, because we have World of Warcraft and Second Life to dream of, and we can figure out ways to keep exploiting our petroleum resources.
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