It seems that our sometime friend, sometime adversary China may launch an astronaut into space around mid-October. They claim that their space program is entirely home-grown, although even a quick glance at the equipment shows it to be a collection of Soviet/Russian knockoffs.
But my real point is that I hope this inspires our vision-less citizens and politicians to revive our own floundering space program. NASA has gone begging since right after Apollo 11 got back from the moon. Sure, I've read the history, I know that the major impetus behind the "moon race" was the Cold War. But really, has there ever been a time when our nation was so alive, so focused?
We should go to Mars.
Sure, the moon is closer. It has known deposits of commercially useful minerals, it would make a great scientific outpost for astronomy, hell, it may even have water hidden in perpetually dark craters. What it lacks is a challenge great enough to recreate that sense of adventure that everyone else - who thought it really was a race to the moon - had. Mars is far enough away to require some real engineering leaps. Mars is far enough away to challenge the imagination. The mission is difficult enough - and costly enough - to require true international cooperation. Not the half-assed attempts being made with the International Space Station.
Unfortunately I know of nobody in government right now with the imagination, the multi-national popularity, the sheer chutzpah to pull it off. Bush doesn't even read his own news, can he really be expected to have absorbed the historical lessons of the 60s and 70s when he was busy drinking, snorting and going aWol?
Where is a leader with such vision?
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