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Space: the forgotten frontier

Satur day the 1s t of A ugus t, 2008 w as an inter es ting day f or new s in the w or ld. Why is that, I hear y ou as king. Well, the s pac e s huttle Endeavour touc hed bac k dow n on planet Ear th af ter s pending a gr and total of 16 day s in s pac e w or king on the Inter national Spac e Station. The inter es ting thing about this is the r emar kable lac k of f anf ar e that s ur r ounds any thing to do w ith humanity s ex ploits in s pac e thes e day s . When y ou c ons ider that 40 y ear s ago the w or ld s tood united by the f eat of landing a per s on on the moon, its quite r emar kable that now , w hen people ar e in s pac e doing lif e thr eatening w or k on a SPA CE STA TION( !) , people r eally dont c ar e. In f ac t, the w hole c onc ept of a s pac e s tation or biting the planet is gr eeted w ith r emar kable apathy by the av er age per s on on the s tr eet. May be this is bec aus e it's not ex ac tly the Death Star , or the Jus tic e League's Watc htow er . Whatev er the r eas on, s pac e has bec ome the f or gotten f r ontier . I s tar ted w onder ing w hy this is . To me, s pac e is s till a f as c inating s ubjec t. Sc ienc e f ic tion f ilms inv ar iably do w ell at the box of f ic e ( unles s y ou c ount the all time s c um s uc king mov ies s uc h as Mi s s i on to Mar s and Battl efi el d: Ear th) . Y et w hen it c omes to r eal lif e s pac e ex plor ation, the gener al public c ouldnt r eally c ar e les s . The ques tion is , w hat w ould it take f or people to s tar t getting ex c ited about s pac e tr av el onc e mor e? I s uppos e the bigges t dr aw c ar d f or s pac e is that its unknow n. The bigges t thr ill of landing s omeone on the moon w as that it had nev er been done bef or e ( in f ac t, s ome muppets r ec kon it nev er ac tually happened. A s alw ay s , thes e people mus t be des tr oy ed... now ) , and many believ ed it to be an impos s ible f eat. When I think of the thr ee mos t endur ing s peec hes f r om A mer ic an s oc ial politic s , I f ir s t think of A br aham Linc oln s igning the emanc ipation pr oc lamation s ay ing I nev er , in my lif e, f elt mor e c er tain that I w as doing r ight, than I do in s igning this paper . Good times , A br aham. Good times . Sec ond, I think of Mar tin Luther King Jr deliv er ing his I hav e a dr eam... s peec h. A nd then thir dly , I think of JFK utter ing the f ollow ing tw o lines at his s w ear ing in and w hen he addr es s ed a Joint Ses s ion of Congr es s , both in 1961: A s k not w hat y our c ountr y c an do f or y ou; as k w hat y ou c an do f or y our c ountr y . I believ e that this nation s hould c ommit its elf to ac hiev ing the goal, bef or e this dec ade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and r etur ning him bac k s af ely to the ear th. No s ingle s pac e pr ojec t in this per iod w ill be mor e impr es s iv e to mankind, or mor e impor tant f or the long- r ange ex plor ation of s pac e; and none w ill be s o dif f ic ult or ex pens iv e to ac c omplis h. The line about landing on the moon is pr etty ins pir ing. I s uppos e the equiv alent today w ould be landing s omeone on Mar s . Now THA T w ould be ins pir ational. In f ac t, to get ins pir ed about s pac e tr av el again, w atc h this s c ene f r om the Wes t Wing. Do it! Done it? Petty impr es s iv e r ight? Feeling a little ins pir ed? I am! I hav e no idea of the c omplex ities . I hav e no idea of the f unding r equir ed. A nd giv en that w er e in the middle of a w or ldw ide r ec es s ion that is pr edominantly Bill Clintons f ault, I dont think ther es muc h c hanc e itll happen any time s oon. Abraham Lincoln delivered some great speeches in his time. The International Space Station is no Death Star.

How ev er , I'm almos t c er tain that the idea of s ending people to Mar s ins pir es y ou a little. If it does n't, then y ou'r e an idiot. To me, s pac e tr av el and s pac e ex plor ation s hould be an uplif ting thing. It s hould c aptur e peoples imaginations bec aus e ex plor ing s pac e and dis c ov er ing mor e about the univ er s e is an amaz ing thing. Indeed it w as A lber t Eins tein w ho s aid The mos t inc ompr ehens ible

thing about the univ er s e is that it is c ompr ehens ible. Fr ed Hoy le, the f amous Englis h as tr onomer s aid, The pr obability of lif e or iginating on Ear th is no gr eater than the c hanc e that a hur r ic ane, s w eeping thr ough a s c r apy ar d, w ould hav e the luc k to as s emble a Boeing 747. We liv e on a unique planet in a r emar kable univ er s e. The f ac t that w e c an lear n about it and ex plor e the r es t of the univ er s e is an inc r edible oppor tunity . I s ay its time to batten dow n the hatc hes and get ex c ited about s pac e again. A f ter all, it is the f inal f r ontier . Clic k her e to email Dy lan about the abov e c olumn. Clic k her e to go bac k to the homepage.

The Fairy of Eagle Nebula is just one of space's most amazing spectacles.