Russians claim lead in "race" to Mars
The Russians are claiming to be ahead of us in what is at present a purely hypothetical "race" to Mars.
Most Americans, I'm sure, would react to that news apathetically. But as I've written before, we of a certain age well remember what it was like when the Russians beat us into orbit with Sputnik I, and then put their first cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin, into space before we could get an American up there. The shock to our national prestige and self-esteem was traumatic. It wasn't until Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon twelve years after Sputnik that we really recovered.
The voyage of Apollo 11, on the other hand was a unifying event of just the kind our badly divided society could use today. Factor in the technological and economic advances of a program to send a manned mission to Mars (perhaps even a joint one with the Russians, the Chinese, and other nations), and the case becomes overwhelming. Such mission would end up pumping far more money into the economy than the project would cost, and encourage full employment in the aerospace industry- a sector in which we were once undisputed world leaders, and could be again.
When the first Orion vehicle returns American astronauts to the moon a few years down the road, it'll be a good first step. But we need to be making plans- along with other nations- for humanity's first trip to Mars as well.
It's going to happen. The only question is whether we're going to be left behind- again.
Most Americans, I'm sure, would react to that news apathetically. But as I've written before, we of a certain age well remember what it was like when the Russians beat us into orbit with Sputnik I, and then put their first cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin, into space before we could get an American up there. The shock to our national prestige and self-esteem was traumatic. It wasn't until Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon twelve years after Sputnik that we really recovered.
The voyage of Apollo 11, on the other hand was a unifying event of just the kind our badly divided society could use today. Factor in the technological and economic advances of a program to send a manned mission to Mars (perhaps even a joint one with the Russians, the Chinese, and other nations), and the case becomes overwhelming. Such mission would end up pumping far more money into the economy than the project would cost, and encourage full employment in the aerospace industry- a sector in which we were once undisputed world leaders, and could be again.
When the first Orion vehicle returns American astronauts to the moon a few years down the road, it'll be a good first step. But we need to be making plans- along with other nations- for humanity's first trip to Mars as well.
It's going to happen. The only question is whether we're going to be left behind- again.
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