"On July 20, 1969, the human race accomplished its single greatest technological achievement of all time when a human first set foot on another celestial body." _ NASA website
I don't actually remember this event as I wasn't quite born yet. In fact, thinking about it, the event must have inspired some horny reactions as this is approximately the time I was conceived! But alas the Moon landing was a monumental event that I have grown up with and it's hard to believe that it was all so long ago. The space age came and went, giving rise to the digital age, but will it ever happen again?
The whole space race was a side effect to the arms race between the USA and USSR (of the time) during the Cold War, so really these amazing feats of human endeavour were only possible because of the concept of having enemies that could wipe out entire cities at the press of a button. By demonstrating superior rocket power, they also demonstrated a scary ability to deliver a deadly payload with absolute precision.
Global economics has changed, politics has changed, and even war has changed, so will we ever be in such a situation again where we see such tremendous leaps in science and progress? Without major global warfare and destruction to influence the leaders, will such budgets ever be made available again for this type of development work?
NASA and various other space programmes are ongoing. We see probes sent here and there, satellites launched all over the show, a few Mars landers dotted around, but nothing on the scale of the 50s and 60s. I always hoped I'd be around to see the first Mars mission when I was a kid, but this is looking highly unlikely (and I don't want a big global conflict to inspire such an event into being).
They say necessity is the mother of invention and nothing could be truer than the necessity of defense during a major nuclear stand-off to invent a better arsenal of rockets. Without it, I fear we won't be racing back into space in any big way for quite some time!
Ah well, once the UFOs arrive to invade us maybe things will be diferent...
