I've always been fascinated by outer space and space travel. I went to Space Camp when I was 10 - I had an astronaut jacket, used a training simulator, participated in a "mission," and saw Cape Canaveral and its launching pads in person. In sixth grade, I had a page-a-day calendar with photographs from the Hubble Space Telescope. I read and science fiction and watched sci-fi movies.
I first read "The Right Stuff" by Tom Wolfe at camp when I was 13. Now one of my favorite space books, it describes how the space program began. It begins with fighter pilots, and goes into what kinds of people were a part of it - the men who achieved space flight and how the country perceived them. The book explains the progression of the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs and the Space Race urgency that drove space exploration at the time. The 1950s and '60s were a time of aeronautical experimentation and growth.
The lack of space exploration in the last decade or two is somewhat troubling. Yes, we have the International Space Station. Other countries send their astronauts/cosmonauts/etc. into space, and are pouring far more resources into their respective space programs than the US. Outside of the 40th anniversary of the moon landing, the general American population seems apathetic towards space exploration. Yes, the moon is a lifeless rock stuck orbiting Earth. However, it is an excellent jumping off point for further exploration. We've already been there, so we know how it works and how to do it successfully. Establishing some sort of permanent base on the moon would encourage a solid commitment to space exploration.
Currently, scientists and politicians only discuss going to the moon or Mars, or maybe in the distant future, Saturn's moon Enceladus, which the Cassini spacecraft have indicated could possess the ingredients necessary for supporting life. (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11736311/). All of these destinations offer us opportunities to explore sustaining life in new and harsh conditions, to discover new resources, and to move us closer to discovering where else in the galaxy life might exist. We cannot assume that we are the only thinking creatures in existence. It seems unlikely that there would only be one planet on which circumstances combined to produce life, considering how many solar systems and planets there are in the Milky Way Galaxy, let alone other galaxies.. Wouldn't we also be able to learn from other sentient life? Maybe other planets' sentient life achieved industrialization without increasing the planet's temperature, or created a "greener" or reusable form of energy that is easier and cheaper to produce than what we currently use. Of course, to even attempt to have this conversation, we have to find those other life forms.
I can only imagine what it is like to go into space. Without the thorough training that astronauts undergo, the process of space flight - lifting off, successfully exiting the Earth's atmosphere, actually seeing Earth from space, and being weightless, not to mention realizing your life is currently relying on the spacecraft you're in and the men and women on the ground controlling the mission - is unfathomable. Perhaps it is this incomprehensibility that leads to the currently perception that space is a waste of money that can be better spent elsewhere. Forty years ago, we rallied around the great unknown of space exploration as an incredibly patriotic example of American ingenuity, exploration, and technical prowess. The mystique of space used to be a part of the consciousness of the American people - we need to bring it back.
