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June 29, 2004
A New Space Age
NSS Member Jason Rhian won the "Letter of the Day" for June 29, 2004 in the Tampa Tribune. Reprinted with permission of the author.
A New Space Age
Published: Jun 29, 2004
SpaceShipOne's recent flight might begin a second space age. After the moon shots we lost interest in space. The only reason we went to the moon was because of the Soviet threat. I wonder what would have happened if we weren't so fickle, so saturated with apathy. Some say robots should do spaceflight. Some say, ``We should deal with problems on Earth first.''By that logic, we'll never go. As long as there are people, we'll have war, hunger and disease. We're a society shackled to the couch, too timid for risks. Our heroes aren't those who do great deeds; they're trashy celebrities mired in scandal. Will we ever pull free of mediocrity and dream again? SpaceShipOne will, I hope, start private spaceflights. Maybe then our dreams will be reborn.
If the president's new space plan is approved, I hope it will include plans to tap the limitless resources found in space because, apparently, inspiring kids to reach for the stars isn't enough. We need economic reasons now to go. Today's heroes aren't named Glenn, Armstrong or McAuliffe. No, they're Eminem, 50 Cent and Snoop Dogg.
JASON RHIAN Tampa
Posted by apsmith at June 29, 2004 04:37 PM
