A few nights ago I had the opportunity to catch a few glimpses on the tube of one of the most historic and profound episodes in American history - the landing of the Apollo 11 on the surface of the moon. The words of Neil Armstrong touched a note in America on that auspicious evening in July 1969, "That's one small step for a man and one giant leap for mankind."
I'll never forget seeing the fuzzy transmit that was much like a scene from an Arthur C. Clark novel, Armstrong bouncing merrily on the desert plain of the Sea Of Tranquility and piercing the moon's surface with the American flag.
Although I find myself in disagreement with many policies within the current administration in the White House, I must applaud the hint as of late of an ensuing facelift for the future space program and the exploratory journey to Mars.
What better shot in the arm to heighten morale to a nation bogged down by deficit, war, corporate greed and unemployment. I feel our best investment in the future is in the exploration of space and its endless possibilities as being the world's best gamble for unlimited natural recourses.
Impossible you say, can't be done; seems to me that's what they said to the Wright brothers before they shocked the world in Kitty Hawk.
Men and women who took it upon themselves to risk great hardships in the discovery of new frontiers have changed this nation and the world as a whole. Where would things stand at present had Marco Polo never set foot in the Orient or Lewis and Clark never ventured across the Mississippi?
Science fiction writers prophesied the current accelerations of computer technology fifty years ago along with robotics and technical engineering. I think it's time we prove them right once more and use our best thinkers and scientists to begin the first step that will lead mankind to its greatest discoveries.
I can imagine a world where nations work hand in hand to build spacecraft of discovery instead of star wars satellites for annihilation; where technology is used for exploration instead of exploitation; where we find grace, humanity and God on the far worlds that await us.
Lance Davis,
Hollister
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