Astronaut Gene Cernan Dies At 82 - The Last Man to Walk on the Moon
- Thread starter Marc
- Start date
No disrespect, but considering everything that was achieved in space travel and exploration since the 70's, "we lost the will to explore the stars" is a little strange. The space shuttles, space telescopes, the international space station, the Mars missions, Voyager...?
Back then, landing on the moon was awesome, inspirational and almost unbelievable in technological scale. I think that today we just aim higher and further.
The way I see it is the transition to unmanned exploration necessarily took place with changes in technology and with the limitations of what manned missions could do.
Much has been achieved, but the pioneers, the men and women in the early days of space flight, were of a very special breed of person.
I agree that the will to explore the stars has not subsided. It will continue on with more limited budgets and unmanned missions.
Then again... Has it turned into a game?
NASA Uses Bait and Switch Tactics To Buy Soyuz Seats
I also want to point out that Cernan isn't the last of the great early explorers alive today who were thrust into space on what were essentially controlled bombs. I think 2 from the early days are still alive but their names escape me at the moment.
Also read: Hear the Space Pioneers
And a prayer for those lost including, but not limited to:
Apollo_1
List of spaceflight-related accidents and incidents
Much has been achieved, but the pioneers, the men and women in the early days of space flight, were of a very special breed of person.
I agree that the will to explore the stars has not subsided. It will continue on with more limited budgets and unmanned missions.
Then again... Has it turned into a game?
NASA Uses Bait and Switch Tactics To Buy Soyuz Seats
I also want to point out that Cernan isn't the last of the great early explorers alive today who were thrust into space on what were essentially controlled bombs. I think 2 from the early days are still alive but their names escape me at the moment.
Also read: Hear the Space Pioneers
And a prayer for those lost including, but not limited to:
Apollo_1List of spaceflight-related accidents and incidents
I think Buzz Aldrin is still alive. And John Young.
June Lockhart is also alive, but I don't think she counts.
I take no disrespect from your comments. I like comments that make me go back and re-think my position.
I think my comment was more 'wishful thinking'. I keep hearing about new, better, faster ideas but the ideas never seem to come into reality. The shuttle program is now retired and never left the earth's orbit.
Space is vast and very empty. The technological hurdles of traveling through space are vast, but we went to the moon using pen, paper, and slide rulers in 9 years. With the technological abilities we currently posses (computers) we should be able to do more. It just seems to be taking too much time to move 1 step forward.
I think we (common US citizen) have lost the willpower to push for the stars. Yes, I would be willing to travel to Mars to help settle a colony knowing that my odds of survival are extremely low (the odds of even getting to Mars would be low).