Sean Reiser

As we've all been enjoying the high of the Apollo 11 anniversary, I've gotten to thinking about where the space program is today and were it is going.

My parents were born in a world in a world where man hadn't walked on the moon and had often commented how they wouldn't thought they've seen it in their lifetimes. As they took me, at the age of 1 month and placed me in front of a TV to watch the lunar landing, little could they imagine that 40 years later, I would have no memories of man leaving the orbit of Earth. Nor would they think that their third son could conceivably live to adulthood without man on the moon. To me, the concept of man on other planets seems further away then it did to them in 1960.

In 1968, in the novel and movie 2001: A Space Odyssey Arthur C. Clarke envisioned a world where there were space planes, perminante bases on the moon and expeditions to Jupiter (or Saturn, depending on if we're discussing the book or the movie). If there wasn't a for the Vietnam War and the change in US financial priorities, we would probably be there today. It is a future that is still achievable.

By nature, mankind are explorers. What other species has traveled and lived on all 7 continents? It is in our nature to ask "What is over that hill?" and "How do we cross that body of water?". It's the reason we crawled out of the ocean, climbed down from the trees and moved across this planed. Now that we've been to the corners this planet, the Moon and Mars are next. Exploration are part of our who we are as a species. To me, these days humanity has a feeling of malaise, as a people we move along, day to day with little to accomplish. We live, but without purpose, it's like our souls have been ripped out.

Some may say, "in these economic times, it makes more sense to focus our finances on real problems". I'd like to put it in perspective. NASA's budget is currently roughly half of 1 percent of the national budget. In practical terms, each tax payer 15 cents a day, less then sponsoring a child through one of those organizations.

Some may say, "we shouldn't risk people, robots can do it". When scouts cross the mountains and didn't return we sent more. When explorers were lost at sea, we built better ships. Every man and women who enters the space program knows what the risks.

Some day, a disaster will happen and life on Earth will permanently change. It may be war, disease, a flood or collision with meteor. If nothing else, we know that the sun will eventually burn out. When this happens mankind must be remembered. The music of Beethoven, Mozart and Lennon needs to live beyond this silly little planet. The words of Shakespeare, Keates and Austen need to echo beyond this solar system. The philosophies of Plato, Christ and Buddha must by the legacy we, as a planet, leave behind.