STS-121 Returned to Manned Spaceflight
Well it is about friggin' time! Finally! We have a launch date. Okay we've had a few before that kept getting scrubbed but hey at least we have a date!
July 1st Discovery is set to head back into orbit and visit the International Space Station. For flight details visit www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html
And then there is the Constellation Program. Or as those of us old enough to remember the first steps on the moon: the return-to-the-moon-and-on-to-Mars program. Again, it is about time! Sheesh! Okay so Prez Bush is no Jack Kennedy and there's no space race any more but for cryin' out loud when Kennedy made his speech about landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth "in this decade" by golly within a decade it got done. Okay so maybe his getting killed might have spurred the whole thing on a little bit as a tribute to his vision but ... Bush made his speech about going back to the moon and on to Mars how many years ago now? And we are just now getting the work assignments out for the program?
As a guy I once knew was fond of saying (not that he was old enough to have participated in much either) "God, I miss the 60s" But think about it, the kids of the 1960s got to witness some amazing stuff with the space program. We were dreaming of moon bases and flying cars and space travel (or at least low Earth orbit) as being commonplace for the common person in our lifetimes.
So get a move on already! We 1960s babies aren't getting any younger!!
July 1st Discovery is set to head back into orbit and visit the International Space Station. For flight details visit www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html
And then there is the Constellation Program. Or as those of us old enough to remember the first steps on the moon: the return-to-the-moon-and-on-to-Mars program. Again, it is about time! Sheesh! Okay so Prez Bush is no Jack Kennedy and there's no space race any more but for cryin' out loud when Kennedy made his speech about landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth "in this decade" by golly within a decade it got done. Okay so maybe his getting killed might have spurred the whole thing on a little bit as a tribute to his vision but ... Bush made his speech about going back to the moon and on to Mars how many years ago now? And we are just now getting the work assignments out for the program?
As a guy I once knew was fond of saying (not that he was old enough to have participated in much either) "God, I miss the 60s" But think about it, the kids of the 1960s got to witness some amazing stuff with the space program. We were dreaming of moon bases and flying cars and space travel (or at least low Earth orbit) as being commonplace for the common person in our lifetimes.
So get a move on already! We 1960s babies aren't getting any younger!!
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