Quote of the Week...from Neil Armstrong

I fully expected that, by the end of the century, we would have achieved substantially more than we actually did.                                                                     ---Neil Armstrong

Neil Armstrong, the first human being to stand on the moon's surface, was born this day in 1930...the same year of my mother's birth.  While she passed away in 2002, Armstrong was around until 2012...and had some choice comments about the state of our space program, including the above quote.  I grew up in the sixties and seventies, observing the space race to the moon between America and the Soviets...and then the public disinterest in our space program almost immediately after Armstrong had set foot on the moon. Not only that, but both political wings became cool to the space effort, the Right arguing that it was too expensive and the Left that the money should be spent at home helping the poor. Since the last Apollo moon mission in December 1972, humanity has gone no further than low Earth orbit...that's nearly 50 years!  President George W. Bush presented a plan to return to the moon, establishing a permanent base there...that encouraged me.  Then Barack Obama assumed the presidency and scrapped Bush's ambitious plans, opting to encourage private corporations to develop the primary manned space technology and missions.  Elon Musk's SpaceX corporation took up the challenge and has been launching people into space from U.S. soil after us needing to hitch rides for years off Russian rockets...and he has plans to send people to Mars.  And although private industry, not the government, is providing much of the tab for space exploration now, we're continuing to hear complaints...even from Prince William of England...that those rich people shouldn't be spending their money investing in space exploration but should be using it to help people at home.  Fortunately, I think Musk and other business leaders have the vision to continue with their efforts to expand our frontiers, not only to the moon but also to Mars and the moons of the outer planets.  I wonder what Neil Armstrong would have to say about where we are now. I'm still entertaining hopes of seeing humans reach Mars in my lifetime...