*HTML is ON *UBB Code is ON Smilies Legend
Smilies Legend
If you have previously registered, but forgotten your password, click here.
T O P I C R E V I E Wdss65On my way to work this morning, I was listening to ESPN radio. They always have a blurb about "this day in history" by The History Channel. Today, they announced Kennedy's challenge. Inspired, when I got to work, I sent out an office-wide email:"On this day in 1961, John Kennedy challenged this nation to put a man on the moon and return him safely to earth by the end of the decade.It was one of the craziest, stupidest challenges ever made. The Wright brothers had made the first heavier-than-air powered flight less than 60 years earlier.America’s experience in manned space flight consisted of Alan Shepard’s 15-minute suborbital flight 20 days earlier. To go to the moon would require facilities that hadn’t been built, materials that hadn’t been invented, technologies that hadn’t yet been dreamed of.Although Kennedy didn’t live to see it, America met the challenge on July 20, 1969."I realize that I borrowed freely from my memory of things like episodes of FTETTM, and that you could argue the exact accuracy of my comments (for example, they had not "returned him safely to earth" by 7/20/69), but, hey, I'm not perfect.I got a few responses, all positive. A very important day in history, IMHO.------------------Donissman1I heard from some radio or TV programme a while back that before he was assassinated, Kennedy wanted to end the space race in favour of co-operation with the Russians.If that is true then the last 40 years of human spaceflight have been a missed opportunity.A space programme driven by national prestige is truly myopic as Apollo showed.trajan"Truly myopic as Apollo showed"...?How can going TO THE MOON be shortsighted?!!!!capoetc quote:Originally posted by trajan:"Truly myopic as Apollo showed"...?How can going TO THE MOON be shortsighted?!!!!Websters defines "myopic" as "lacking in foresight or discernment."If the point is that a space program based on national prestige (rather than a long-term plan for exploration) will meet its goal and then stop, then myopic might be exactly the right word for it.------------------John CapobiancoCamden DE
"On this day in 1961, John Kennedy challenged this nation to put a man on the moon and return him safely to earth by the end of the decade.
It was one of the craziest, stupidest challenges ever made. The Wright brothers had made the first heavier-than-air powered flight less than 60 years earlier.
America’s experience in manned space flight consisted of Alan Shepard’s 15-minute suborbital flight 20 days earlier. To go to the moon would require facilities that hadn’t been built, materials that hadn’t been invented, technologies that hadn’t yet been dreamed of.
Although Kennedy didn’t live to see it, America met the challenge on July 20, 1969."
I realize that I borrowed freely from my memory of things like episodes of FTETTM, and that you could argue the exact accuracy of my comments (for example, they had not "returned him safely to earth" by 7/20/69), but, hey, I'm not perfect.
I got a few responses, all positive. A very important day in history, IMHO.
------------------Don
How can going TO THE MOON be shortsighted?!!!!
quote:Originally posted by trajan:"Truly myopic as Apollo showed"...?How can going TO THE MOON be shortsighted?!!!!
Websters defines "myopic" as "lacking in foresight or discernment."
If the point is that a space program based on national prestige (rather than a long-term plan for exploration) will meet its goal and then stop, then myopic might be exactly the right word for it.
------------------John CapobiancoCamden DE
Contact Us | The Source for Space History & Artifacts
Copyright 1999-2024 collectSPACE. All rights reserved.