Posted 1/24/2009 01:53:00 PM by Douglas

Wanna go to Mars, via the Moon? Why are you the only one? Am I the only one?

Truth is, we have done nothing to equal (much less top) the accomplishments of Apollo. And even worse, we haven't tried. We did something truly great, but then walked away from it. We had lightning in a bottle — and we opened the lid.

Our country has been pulling the rug out from under NASA ever since Apollo. Really, the agency is running on fumes from rocket fuel that was purchased (on a credit card no doubt) in 1961.

Why did we allow it to slip through our fingers? Sometimes I get the feeling we are the only nation that just doesn't get it,because we are either cocky or stupid or distracted — or all of the above.

It's all, Miles.

Maybe that will awaken our creative, competitive instincts again, or are we too busy "Dancing with the Stars" to make the effort to aim for them? There is no doubt our nation, as we know it, will not thrive — or even survive — if we don't wake up. This is a big problem for our country— bigger and deeper than our little club of loyal space cadets.

Sadly, I think this is what's going to doom the whole agency. No one cares. No one cares if we go back to the moon, no one cares if India is next. We've become such a panem et circenses culture that no one has the intestinal fortitude to make the commitment, stick to it, and do what's needed. And you've got management that still adheres to this philosophy:

Von Braun once said: "Crash programs fail because they are based on theory that, with nine women pregnant, you can get a baby a month."

As is oft quoted, the problems we have now with the manned spaceflight program aren't going to be solved by those that created them.