Tom Wolfe looks back...
...to the Moon landing, which he sees as the beginning of the end for NASA and America's involvement in space. (Dan Collins)
As much as I respect Tom Wolfe, though, I think he's wrong. The philosophers who believed in the space program have always been out there, and they inspired many of the men and women who went to work for NASA, to say nothing of guys like Burt Rutan who want to get us into space without the politicians' meddling. It is pretty sad, though, that when we won the culture wars, we forgot that one of the reasons we won it was because we wanted to find out what was out there. I'm hoping we get some of that back.
As much as I respect Tom Wolfe, though, I think he's wrong. The philosophers who believed in the space program have always been out there, and they inspired many of the men and women who went to work for NASA, to say nothing of guys like Burt Rutan who want to get us into space without the politicians' meddling. It is pretty sad, though, that when we won the culture wars, we forgot that one of the reasons we won it was because we wanted to find out what was out there. I'm hoping we get some of that back.