Today marks the fortieth anniversary of the Apollo 11 astronauts landing on the moon. Though I wasn’t alive for the moon landing, I’m still awestruck at what an accomplishment it was, given how far our nation’s space program had to come after President Kennedy first promised to put a man on the moon.
However, in looking back and honoring the anniversary of the first moon landing, I can’t help but wonder what’s next. Our nation’s space program has been muddling along for years, and with the space shuttle program due to go offline in 2010 and a replacement program not due to come online until 2015, what’s the future of NASA and our nation’s space program? Will we put another person on the moon in my lifetime? Will we see a lunar colony? What about Mars, which seems to be the next great challenge on our horizon?
Hopefully we as a nation will get as excited about space travel as our nation was in the 1960′s, before we’re eclipsed by other nations with bigger ambitions.
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Oh, I think the piggy bank is empty now. I don’t expect much on this front for a while. At least until China or India or Japan establish a base on the Moon. Then all bets are off.
I’d agree that all bets are off until someone beats us to Mars or establishes a lunar base first.