Date: Sun, 26 Aug 2012 12:57:28 -0400
From: mark <whitroth at 5-cent.us>
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Subject: [WSFA] Neil Armstrong's message to the future
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>

Excerpt:
It all came together on Apollo 11: 20 missions over three programmes
each designed to work the kinks out of a lunar mission; hundreds of man
hours in space; hundreds of thousands of man hours on Earth building
every piece of the rockets and spacecraft; and millions upon millions of
dollars. In most cases the risks paid off, but other times unforeseen
risks cost astronauts their lives. Every experience taught Nasa
something about landing a man on the moon. And everything culminated in
Armstrong's one small step. He became synonymous with the hope, hard
work, infallible spirit, and unwavering dedication that made Apollo
possible. It was perhaps the greatest technological and engineering
challenge mankind has embarked on. Nasa met the challenge and had
Armstrong as its poster child.

It's a spirit we don't see today. Instead of support for space
exploration we see arguments against Nasa's continued funding. Where
once we saw daring missions we now see an aversion to risk. Nasa once
stood as the agency able to make the seemingly impossible possible,
drawing families together around the TV to watch Armstrong walk on the moon.
<...>
Whether or not we'll recapture that pioneering spirit in space
exploration is unclear. It's hard to stick to expensive and dangerous
long-term goals in the current economic climate and perhaps harder still
to show the public that the benefits of space exploration are more than
just capturing stunning images on other worlds.

We are, by nature, curious beings with a thirst for knowledge of the
world around us. Armstrong has inspired those who watched his first
steps on the moon and those who read about him in school textbooks 10,
20, and 30 years later. It's up to the historians now to preserve
Armstrong's legacy so that others can experience that same moment of
wonder when they read about the moon landing for the first time. Because
Armstrong will always be the first man to walk on the moon and he will
always embody the spirit of Apollo. And just as Kennedy's death in 1963
spurred the nation to achieve his lunar landing goal, Armstrong's death
may inspire future generations to start a new chapter in spaceflight's
history.
--- end excerpt ---

<http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/aug/25/man-moon-american-century>

mark

-- random .sig, honest
The sixties grant amnesty to no one." - Tullio Proni