Dreams

[julesjones]

Edmund Hillary is 88 today.

On his 50th birthday, humans set foot on another planet for the first time.

Nowadays we don't bother to keep track of who's stood on Everest -- it's still hard, it's still an incredible achievement for those who do it, but it's become commonplace.

Only twelve of us ever walked on the moon.

Maybe one day we'll change that.

Comments

[ritaxis.livejournal.com]

I've been thinking that I do not actually care if there are any more manned expeditions to the Moon or other space places any time soon. It's not because I don't care about space, though I care about it less than a lot of sf people do. And it's not because I think it will never be especially appropriate again (I'm an agnostic about that). It's because the exploration of space by robot (and telescope) is so exciting these days, and there's so much more we can see and experience this way. I get my sense of wonder tweaked by a nice clear photo, or an announcement about a new planetary body or some complicated discussion I can't half follow about the habits of distant stars seen as blips in a digital record. Things we'll not be able to do with manned space flight for a long, long time.

[julesjones]

I strongly disapprove of the "send a man to Mars!" thing Bush went in for, because it was just a publicity/ego-boost stunt for him, but I know how much damage it's done to the unmanned programme. It might have actually been a useful programme in terms of developing new technology, but they weren't given any extra money to do it. Instead they had to strip the existing programmes for money, and as a result they've lost teams and pools of expertise that simply can't be replaced. Scientists who've been made redundant don't just sit around waiting until they're wanted again; they find other jobs, and they don't come back. It will take decades to undo that damage.