Why Did The Space Age Die?

[fncceo]

I don't think the world has ever collectively experienced any event (at least not a positive one) as they did the 1960's Space Race.

Americans and The Soviets peacefully duking it out to be first in as many new achievements as they could, with The Soviets starting out in a commanding lead.

Nothing caught the public imagination (not just in America and Russia, but globally) than our race to get into space.


A combination of politics and competing priorities hobbled the American Space Program for the first few years, but Kennedy gave our program purpose and we put our collective national energies behind a program to land men on The Moon.

However, The Soviets essentially conceded the Space Race a couple of years before the Apollo landing and with no goals after landing on The Moon, the public very quickly lost interest in space except as a setting for adventure dramas.

We have made many very important technological achievements in the decades since. Many of which could never have been dreamed of by even the most forward looking dreamers of the 1960s and '70s. But, space, as a destination for humans, is all but abandoned by The Human Race.

I can see the end of The Space Race a turning point in our country as well. We quickly voltefaced from an optimistic people, eager for a better, grander future, to a nihilistic, pessimistic people who seem to long for dystopia.

Why did it die so quickly and completely? Will humans ever again think about going into space outside of a movie theater?

If we did, what would be the reason(s) for it?

 

[ReinyDays]

We went to the Moon ... learned it isn't made of blue cheese ... and we've never been back ...

 

[Synthaholic]

Republicans.

 

[Manonthestreet]

Lack of vision

 

[Hossfly]

B. H. Obama killed it.

 

[EvilCat Breath]

It ended when a black woman yelled "they put a man on the moon but a rat just ate my baby".

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

Why Did The Space Age Die?​

Because it was run by big government instead of private enterprise?

 

[petro]

We did those things because it was hard.

Generation Smart Phone is soft and fluffy.

 

[yidnar]

Republicans.

bull ! Obama oversaw the junking of the space shuttle and had NASA concentrating on muslim relations instead of science .

Obama’s new mission for NASA: Reach out to Muslim world

In a far-reaching restatement of goals for the nation’s space agency, NASA administrator Charles Bolden says President Obama has ordered him to pursue three new objectives: to “re-inspire children” to study science and math, to “expand our international relationships,” and to “reach out to the…

www.washingtonexaminer.com

 

[fncceo]

Why Did The Space Age Die?​

Because it was run by big government instead of private enterprise?

The government didn't tell people to stop caring about space. There was no massive propaganda blitz to turn people off space. Quite the contrary, NASA tried for years to get people interested in Space Lab, Apollo-Soyuz, the Shuttle. Not one of these had the drawing power to reignite the country's infatuation with Space.

Every part of every American spacecraft was made by private industry. What prevented American companies in 1969 from taking the project, or a more ambitious project, over themselves?

What impetus would there have been to do that? What impetus is there for us to do it today?

If American's hadn't lost interest in manned space so completely, it wouldn't have mattered who was running the program.

 

[yidnar]

bull ! Obama oversaw the junking of the space shuttle and had NASA concentrating on muslim relations instead of science .

Obama’s new mission for NASA: Reach out to Muslim world

In a far-reaching restatement of goals for the nation’s space agency, NASA administrator Charles Bolden says President Obama has ordered him to pursue three new objectives: to “re-inspire children” to study science and math, to “expand our international relationships,” and to “reach out to the…

www.washingtonexaminer.com

Obama also cut NASA's budget 20%

Obama to slash NASA budget. Will space exploration suffer?

NASA’s planetary science division would shoulder a heavy share of the cut. Under the president’s proposal, its budget would drop from $1.5 billion to $1.2 billion, a 20 percent reduction.

www.csmonitor.com

 

[yidnar]

Obama also cut NASA's budget 20%

Obama to slash NASA budget. Will space exploration suffer?

NASA’s planetary science division would shoulder a heavy share of the cut. Under the president’s proposal, its budget would drop from $1.5 billion to $1.2 billion, a 20 percent reduction.

www.csmonitor.com

and he froze NASA's budget .

Obama: Five-year freeze on NASA budget

President Barack Obama on Monday proposed reining in expenses at NASA, sending a 2012 budget blueprint to Congress that calls for a five-year freeze on spending levels at the US space agency.

phys.org

 

[Natural Citizen]

With all of the currency wars going on during the global economic collapse and ...oh...lets call it geo-political reconfiguration...we'll start seeing space war ramped up. Though it'll be relatively boring to average shmucks. Probably wonlt eve nnotice. That's what the space force was all about anyway. They knew this was coming. All of those transactions happen in space. And we've seen some interesting mergers among nations over the last decade to put infrastructure up there. Recall that the majority of NSA spying whe nthey got caught wasnlt on the electorate, it was on the financial transactions of other nations. Though the talking heads on the idiot box only made it about spying on Americans.

I believe I've just casually spoken about the relevance of international financial clearing around here in the past.

And all of the recent hype about aliens and ufos and whatnot from governments, predictable as it was/is, really only serves as shiny bait to solicit more funding to weaponize space further in that regard. People eat that crap up like candy. So they'll get it. They'll get every dime.


We'll likely just get some new emojis out of it or something. They've been putting out some whopperdoozies lately. Preganant fellers and whatnot.

 

[petro]

My belief is that humans will return to the Moon, eventually set foot on Mars, and hundreds of years into the future may be mining asteroids in the Belt and have a footprint on some of the moons of the gas giants.

Exploration is in our DNA, and there are endless resources available throughout the solar system.

We are still just taking the baby steps of a future space fairing race.

 

[TroglocratsRdumb]

The Space Shuttle made space travel routine.
It lost its glamour and wonderment.
People stopped watching launches.
Elon Musk's SpaceX set a record this year for the most space launches.

 

[Frankeneinstein]

Why did it die so quickly and completely? Will humans ever again think about going into space outside of a movie theater?

If we did, what would be the reason(s) for it?

"As Alexander gazed the depth of his empire he wept, for there were no more worlds to conquer"

 

[flacaltenn]

I don't think the world has ever collectively experienced any event (at least not a positive one) as they did the 1960's Space Race.

Americans and The Soviets peacefully duking it out to be first in as many new achievements as they could, with The Soviets starting out in a commanding lead.

Nothing caught the public imagination (not just in America and Russia, but globally) than our race to get into space.


A combination of politics and competing priorities hobbled the American Space Program for the first few years, but Kennedy gave our program purpose and we put our collective national energies behind a program to land men on The Moon.

However, The Soviets essentially conceded the Space Race a couple of years before the Apollo landing and with no goals after landing on The Moon, the public very quickly lost interest in space except as a setting for adventure dramas.

We have made many very important technological achievements in the decades since. Many of which could never have been dreamed of by even the most forward looking dreamers of the 1960s and '70s. But, space, as a destination for humans, is all but abandoned by The Human Race.

I can see the end of The Space Race a turning point in our country as well. We quickly voltefaced from an optimistic people, eager for a better, grander future, to a nihilistic, pessimistic people who seem to long for dystopia.

Why did it die so quickly and completely? Will humans ever again think about going into space outside of a movie theater?

If we did, what would be the reason(s) for it?

If you've never seen the movie "October Sky" -- and you're interested in how the plan to get into space motivated the entire country -- you gotta watch this.


Having done a 9 month stint at Kennedy Space Center, one of the reasons we're sucking wind on space and thumbing rides with Russians to even get to the space station is that NASA doesn't GET US into space. Corporate America -- gets us into space. My NASA counterparts there in HQ building were Program Managers. I was researching necessary tech for them to write specifications or to let contracts. I was lied to when I asked "what kind of equipment and labs they had to do science/engineering -- hence the short 9 months. Although I had a couple high points.

I dont think corporate tech is FLEXIBLE enough anymore to BECOME a "space exploration" design team. THey have NARROWED their focus on profits, and trimmed their interests. They value MBAs and lobbyists MORE than scientists and engineers with BROAD background and education.

Hence -- NASA is now a "rent a pad" facility for renegade entrepreneurs that WILL hire the "right stuff" and WILL have their OWN interests as to why these rich bold guys with FU money want to go to space. NASA is more into "Diversity Equity Inclusion" and helping to redefine the English language these days.

 

[skye]

The space age died because they encountered too many aliens out there.

They couldn't explain it all to the people on Earth.

I mean it.

 

[MarathonMike]

I don't think the world has ever collectively experienced any event (at least not a positive one) as they did the 1960's Space Race.

Americans and The Soviets peacefully duking it out to be first in as many new achievements as they could, with The Soviets starting out in a commanding lead.

Nothing caught the public imagination (not just in America and Russia, but globally) than our race to get into space.


A combination of politics and competing priorities hobbled the American Space Program for the first few years, but Kennedy gave our program purpose and we put our collective national energies behind a program to land men on The Moon.

However, The Soviets essentially conceded the Space Race a couple of years before the Apollo landing and with no goals after landing on The Moon, the public very quickly lost interest in space except as a setting for adventure dramas.

We have made many very important technological achievements in the decades since. Many of which could never have been dreamed of by even the most forward looking dreamers of the 1960s and '70s. But, space, as a destination for humans, is all but abandoned by The Human Race.

I can see the end of The Space Race a turning point in our country as well. We quickly voltefaced from an optimistic people, eager for a better, grander future, to a nihilistic, pessimistic people who seem to long for dystopia.

Why did it die so quickly and completely? Will humans ever again think about going into space outside of a movie theater?

If we did, what would be the reason(s) for it?

We had an inspiring visionary President in John Kennedy who demanded that Americans be the best. He understood hard work, discipline and dedication leads to great things. Lee Oswald killed the Space Race and ushered in the dark ages by changing the Democratic Party from the JFK Democrats to the LBJ Democrats.

 

[Bleipriester]

I don't think the world has ever collectively experienced any event (at least not a positive one) as they did the 1960's Space Race.

Americans and The Soviets peacefully duking it out to be first in as many new achievements as they could, with The Soviets starting out in a commanding lead.

Nothing caught the public imagination (not just in America and Russia, but globally) than our race to get into space.


A combination of politics and competing priorities hobbled the American Space Program for the first few years, but Kennedy gave our program purpose and we put our collective national energies behind a program to land men on The Moon.

However, The Soviets essentially conceded the Space Race a couple of years before the Apollo landing and with no goals after landing on The Moon, the public very quickly lost interest in space except as a setting for adventure dramas.

We have made many very important technological achievements in the decades since. Many of which could never have been dreamed of by even the most forward looking dreamers of the 1960s and '70s. But, space, as a destination for humans, is all but abandoned by The Human Race.

I can see the end of The Space Race a turning point in our country as well. We quickly voltefaced from an optimistic people, eager for a better, grander future, to a nihilistic, pessimistic people who seem to long for dystopia.

Why did it die so quickly and completely? Will humans ever again think about going into space outside of a movie theater?

If we did, what would be the reason(s) for it?

The answer is already in your post. The people lost interest. Since for politics the space race was a matter of prestige, its just pointless to spend huge amounts of money on something you can´t impress people with. For both sides, it was important to showcase the superiority of their systems with technology. That all was solely political, the politicians were no space fans. And those who were really interested in space stuff, depended on government funding.

Today, space companies have emerged. But they are not ready in terms of technology. They could be in the future. They want to earn money though, thus depend on public interest also.