Space Travel
It is difficult to talk about space travel when our nation, our world, is gripped by a throat tightening, chest tightening, belt tightening recession. The stars seem further away. “All that rocket fuel could be used to warm my babies!” the crowd howls. These are valid points. It is hard to build towering, steaming birdcrafts when people are going hungry. There’s just something about watching those booster rockets fall, massive pieces of litter that we cast off like climbers sucking down tanks of O2 on their way to the top of Everest. Those guys are always millionaires. Recently, as far as nations go, the US is not.
And I would agree with these sentiments. Would, but for some little gnawing in the back of my mind, the one that pushes me towards giving away all my stuff and moving to a shack in Panama, living off free-dived mollusks. Because as important as heat and plasma TVs and health care are, they’re only important to me me me and you you you.
Wernher von Braun knew that space travel is important for Us. And he doesn’t mean you and me. He means every human that has ever lived and ever will live, including the human that might someday be the last human if we don’t get our act together.
I’ll let Wernher close my set for me. Goodnight everyone.
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“Here on Earth we live on a planet that is in orbit around the Sun. The Sun itself is a star that is on fire and will someday burn up, leaving our solar system uninhabitable. Therefore we must build a bridge to the stars, because as far as we know, we are the only sentient creatures in the entire universe. When do we start building that bridge to the stars? We begin as soon as we are able, and this is that time. We must not fail in this obligation we have to keep alive the only meaningful life we know of.” – Wernher von Braun, as remembered by Tom Wolfe.
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