America once sent men to the moon.
In the future, well be paying the Russians $50 million to hitch a ride to the space station.
On Friday, America launched its last space shuttle mission, and with it, U.S. space programs dominance seems to have come to an end.
For many of us who lived through the birth of the Apollo program, there is a feeling that something important has been lost.
Putting a man on the moon in the 1960s was the stuff of science fiction. But if man could dream it, we could do it. That was the American way.
Those days are over now. It sometimes seems we cant do anything: Cant end poverty. Improve public education. Or even figure out a way to put people to work. All of that stuff seemed important once.
Perhaps there are more important things this nation should be doing. In these difficult economic times, the cots of a space program does seem extravagant.
But I cant help remembering the days when this nation dreamed big.
It might not have been Camelot, but even as our eyes were on the stars, people fought for civil rights, equal housing, affordable college tuitions, and dreamed of a day when even a black child could be president of the United States.
Unbelievable, some would have said.
Yes, like a man walking on the moon.
A nation that tries to find a vision on a balance sheet is going blind . . .
Once upon a time, America reached for the stars - Chicago Sun-Times
In the future, well be paying the Russians $50 million to hitch a ride to the space station.
On Friday, America launched its last space shuttle mission, and with it, U.S. space programs dominance seems to have come to an end.
For many of us who lived through the birth of the Apollo program, there is a feeling that something important has been lost.
Putting a man on the moon in the 1960s was the stuff of science fiction. But if man could dream it, we could do it. That was the American way.
Those days are over now. It sometimes seems we cant do anything: Cant end poverty. Improve public education. Or even figure out a way to put people to work. All of that stuff seemed important once.
Perhaps there are more important things this nation should be doing. In these difficult economic times, the cots of a space program does seem extravagant.
But I cant help remembering the days when this nation dreamed big.
It might not have been Camelot, but even as our eyes were on the stars, people fought for civil rights, equal housing, affordable college tuitions, and dreamed of a day when even a black child could be president of the United States.
Unbelievable, some would have said.
Yes, like a man walking on the moon.
A nation that tries to find a vision on a balance sheet is going blind . . .
Once upon a time, America reached for the stars - Chicago Sun-Times
