Posted 7/20/2009 06:10:00 PM by Douglas

Forty years after man set foot on the moon for the first time, NASA is desperately trying to find its way.

The Apollo 11 astronauts who were the first to land on the Moon 40 years ago, have urged Americans to set their sights on Mars.

Neil Armstrong and Michael Collins, both 78, and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, 79, went to the National Air and Space Museum on Sunday and used the rare appearance together to press calls to head for new frontiers in space.

I'm glad these guys are still around and still capable of inspiring us. Neil Armstrong? Inspire me:

"America, do you still dream a great dream? Do you still believe in yourself?" he went on to ask. "I call on the next generation and our political leaders to give this answer: Yes We Can!"

Absolutely. That's always been the answer. But the question is, do we want to? Who knows.

And ironically, as if this was made up, take a look at the problems NASA is dealing with today, on the same day as the 40th anniversary of the first Lunar EVA: A clogged toilet.

NASA avoided a rather messy situation in space Monday after giving astronauts aboard the International Space Station the green light to use a toilet after crew members worked for a day to repair it.

"The US Destiny lab toilet has been repaired and checked out. The crew has been given a "go" to use it. All three toilets are working," NASA said in a post to the micro-blogging website Twitter.

Well doesn't that just sum up that tenement house in the sky. In 40 years we've gone from "That's one small step for a man" to "Merry Christmas, Shitter's full!" How's that supposed to inspire a new generation to greatness?