MizzleTizzle
01-11-2004, 10:27 AM
Ok; so Bush might announc wednesday that we might return to the moon, and then send some peeps to Mars.
It's gonna happen again. Interest will vanish.
I came to that sad conclusion while writing up a piece on the whole thing.
Ron spoke of the speech in 1961. The guy is a friggin savant. He can pull from memory the JFK speech 'I believe this nation, should attain the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man, etc...'
Many know that one; it's everywhere. But Ron mentioned, exactly, the political and social climate of the time: Russians had been kicking our ass all over space; first satellite [Sputnick]; first Dog [Laika]; first Human in Space [Yuri Gagarin]; first human to orbit [Gagarin orbited]. And it took them less then five years to duplicate an atom bomb. Atom Bomb + Working Space Program = USSR is not only a serious threat, it seems theyre moving to control Space. Orbiting Russian Nukes? This was all discussed as possible, and some dared, likely.
What was so amazing about that speech was that us, meaning US, USA; had exactly 15 minutes and 22 seconds of manned spacefilght time. That was it. Sheperd flight, a lob towards Cuba essentially, still Blew the USA Off it's feet. We were in it! Hey russian you started this, were gonna finish, thanx comrade. Shepherd went from Zero to Lindbergh in 15 minutes.
OK so this doesnt get too long [?]; THAT was why we went to the moon. It wasn't Science, not the first Priority. Nope. It wasn't Exploration, not the first. The first was kicking the USSR's ass in Space. The arms race was going very well. Hey, the Rocket John Glenn went up on, the first orbit? That was an Atlas ICBM booster, designed really to deliver a bomb as much as one of the Mercury 7.
So I don't know. Sure the pictures look cool as hell. That's last week. The people, and media, are soon gonna be like [if not already]; ok, nice reddish shot of a bad beach. Yawn.
I don't know if we wanna really Do this. We sure don't have the motivation of 1960-era US vs. USSR paranoia going. And believe me, read up on Sputnik. It scared the piss out of Everyone. I mean from the people to the scientists to our prez on down to our schools; it was a wake-up call that we haven't had since. I mean there were presidential speeches about How we were gong to handle all of this.
Anyone? I ask: Can we do this? Technologically, but also from a standpoint of do we Want it bad enough? Should we? Could We? I'm now quoting Streisand.
It's gonna happen again. Interest will vanish.
I came to that sad conclusion while writing up a piece on the whole thing.
Ron spoke of the speech in 1961. The guy is a friggin savant. He can pull from memory the JFK speech 'I believe this nation, should attain the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man, etc...'
Many know that one; it's everywhere. But Ron mentioned, exactly, the political and social climate of the time: Russians had been kicking our ass all over space; first satellite [Sputnick]; first Dog [Laika]; first Human in Space [Yuri Gagarin]; first human to orbit [Gagarin orbited]. And it took them less then five years to duplicate an atom bomb. Atom Bomb + Working Space Program = USSR is not only a serious threat, it seems theyre moving to control Space. Orbiting Russian Nukes? This was all discussed as possible, and some dared, likely.
What was so amazing about that speech was that us, meaning US, USA; had exactly 15 minutes and 22 seconds of manned spacefilght time. That was it. Sheperd flight, a lob towards Cuba essentially, still Blew the USA Off it's feet. We were in it! Hey russian you started this, were gonna finish, thanx comrade. Shepherd went from Zero to Lindbergh in 15 minutes.
OK so this doesnt get too long [?]; THAT was why we went to the moon. It wasn't Science, not the first Priority. Nope. It wasn't Exploration, not the first. The first was kicking the USSR's ass in Space. The arms race was going very well. Hey, the Rocket John Glenn went up on, the first orbit? That was an Atlas ICBM booster, designed really to deliver a bomb as much as one of the Mercury 7.
So I don't know. Sure the pictures look cool as hell. That's last week. The people, and media, are soon gonna be like [if not already]; ok, nice reddish shot of a bad beach. Yawn.
I don't know if we wanna really Do this. We sure don't have the motivation of 1960-era US vs. USSR paranoia going. And believe me, read up on Sputnik. It scared the piss out of Everyone. I mean from the people to the scientists to our prez on down to our schools; it was a wake-up call that we haven't had since. I mean there were presidential speeches about How we were gong to handle all of this.
Anyone? I ask: Can we do this? Technologically, but also from a standpoint of do we Want it bad enough? Should we? Could We? I'm now quoting Streisand.