On July 21, 1969, half a billion people listened to Neil Armstrong say the most famous words uttered by a human being in space: "That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind".
Aspiring American astronauts better learn some foreign languages fast, if they want to hitch a ride to space.
Spasiba and dosvidaniya, STS-135
It's sad :(
ReplyDelete@Mustang Sally, yes it is. Other well chosen words come to mind.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your visit.
Neil Armstrong used to be my hero.
ReplyDeleteThe dreams of a dying empire and returning to sand.
ReplyDeleteGreat quote from Edgar Mitchell. We're moving forward though, and there will be more exploration.
ReplyDeleteTonight, there was a lustrous glow in the sky before the great moon rose. The whole family waited for it to rise, anticipating its fullness. It was breathtaking.
It IS sad.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the quote, what Mitchell had to say was all well and good. Pretty profound, as a matter of fact. But, as much as he was complaining about Earth, it's probably a safe bet he didn't take his helmet off.
@Jayne: Yours was a beautiful comment and even more inspiring than Mitchell's.
How am I going to live on the lunar colony now? I don't wanna learn Russian!!!
ReplyDeleteMitchell put it so eloquently, didn't he?
Think of a world when, suddenly, everyone, everywhere gave a damn.
ReplyDeleteIt may be sad but we need that money poured back into getting our economy on it's feet again. We are going to see even more desperate times ahead in the US I believe.
ReplyDeleteLast night we watched a documentary on the brief life of comedian Bill Hicks. In one of the clips, he spoke of how, without all the money going to wars (and this was in the early 1990s) we could feed, house, heal and educate everyone on earth in need and still explore the space beyond... and within. Our better angels are not currently behind the wheel. As a nation, we seem to have lost or bartered away our capacity for wonder and discovery.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great quote...
ReplyDelete@Lemons don't make lemonade says it all:) In the absence of modern heroes, he still is.
ReplyDeleteThank you for stopping by.
@Laoch, sadly it seems to be a very short lived rise and fall. I suspect I don't have a good grasp on the even bigger picture. May not want to.
@Jayne, Al and Barb, it's easier if I comment this way, even though it doesn't directly address each comment.
While there is more exploration to come, massive funding cuts are being made to scientific research and virtually all fields. Various governments around the world are now looking to the private sector for funding of these projects.
Personally, certain fields, such as space exploration, should remain in the collective hands of the public and taxpayer, not the corporate world of "profit" and stakeholders.
Instead of a country holding certain patents for future technologies, which is good for long-term economy, they will belong to corporations. I think that we have all experienced that in the hands of the few, benefiting mankind or this planet are not a priority.
@Jayne, thank you for the lyrical ode to our moon.
@Barb, agreed, but cutting funding and jobs is not the way to do it.
@Al, helmet safety first;)
@Vinny, there is always universal sign language.
Nothing like the vast darkness of space to put things into perspective.
@Sprite, this is another sprite quotable.:)
ReplyDeleteImagine. Utopia.;)
@Marylinn, thank you for the quote. It is so very true and one is called a hopeless idealist for uttering similar notions.
I would like to think that we are capable of going beyond personal greed and interests, rather than just calling it "human nature".
It is a global problem, too many "leaders" either can't or won't see the big picture.
@DocCyn, true and profound.
I know, you know, my friend.
Annihilating pixelated bad guys works great too.;)
I didn't know my comments were Quote worthy.
ReplyDeletecool.
;)
I was in Boy Scout camp when we could see the light of Sputnik move across the sky. Armstrong stepped on the moon on my 20th birthday.
ReplyDeleteI lament the loss of our manned space program, but manned flight has serious practical limitations. So much of the payload is needed to support human life; it is impractical and expensive. And our journeys take us only a step outside our Atmospheric front door.
Little is publicized about our unmanned probes which take us to places which may be denied to humans for our remaining history. Voyager has left our solar system and others follow.
I love the romance of the astronaut corps, but I would rather put that money into more efficient and far-reaching scientific instruments which have far more potential to explain to us why we remain unique on this planet.
Robert, only .9% of total spending goes into space and science.
ReplyDeleteProbes can analyze, but only humans can conduct scientific experiments.
Many discoveries have been made in zero-gravity that could have led to benefits for all of us. They are too numerous to list, but there is a lot of medical research being conducted on the ISS, which will end in 2020.
What sprite said!
ReplyDeleteChecking in...hope you are well and doing something like taking a vacation. :D
ReplyDeleteSprite misses Ant :(
ReplyDeleteWondering about you.
ReplyDelete