GRAND ENDEAVOURS
On Monday the penultimate space shuttle mission launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida commanded by the courageous Mark Kelley, husband of the equally brave Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona, who you may recall was nearly assassinated back in January by a crazed gunman. NASA calls this mission “STS-134.” The NASA website is using the font (typestyle) from the original “Star Trek” series for the mission logo.
I became enamored of the space program as a kid watching “Star Trek” in the late 60’s on a 19-inch black and white Zenith TV (which was our only TV!) along with the comedic adventures of Major Anthony Nelson on “I Dream of Jeannie.” The seminal space moment of my childhood was watching the July 1969 Moon Landing (also on a black and white) up at Camp Equinunk in Pennsylvania, live, as it happened. Around the same time I was privileged to see “2001: A Space Odyssey,” Stanley Kubrick’s science fiction and special effects masterpiece that still holds up more than 40 years after its release. I fantasized about traveling to space aboard the Pan Am Space Clipper featured in the film and chatting with the folks back home on Ma Bell’s video phones. I even had a model of that space-liner it was so cool looking.
On May 25, 1961, the late President John F. Kennedy before a joint session of Congress delivered a landmark speech outlining the goal of putting an American on the moon by the end of that decade. In that address Kennedy asserted that “if we are to win the battle that is now going on around the world between freedom and tyranny, the dramatic achievements in space which occurred in recent weeks should have made clear to us all… the impact of this adventure on the minds of men everywhere, who are attempting to make a determination of which road they should take… I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth. No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important for the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish.” Kennedy further stated on September 12th 1962 in a speech at Rice University that “We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.”
With the launch of the shuttle Atlantis scheduled for July, the entire U.S. manned space program will come to a grinding halt. This is the shuttle Endeavour’s final flight. The crews of these voyages are brave not just for venturing into space but also for flying in these 30 year-old pock-marked patched together shuttles. I don’t like even flying in 10 year old planes to Florida. NASA has no approved new manned exploration program on the books.
The end of manned space exploration means as a country we’re ceding space to Russia, China and even India. We’ll have to hitch rides with the Russians. But the end of manned space flights signals the end of something greater – the abandonment of “the final frontier,” the end of America’s “ongoing mission to go where no one has gone before,” and most significantly in the broader context, the end of a national goal of striving for greatness and the impossible which has propelled this country to being the greatest of nations on so many fronts.
As a nation and society what are our big visions for today, for this generation? To own an i-Pad? To post on Facebook? To tame runaway deficits? To just fill potholes literally and figuratively? To try and live at 80 percent of the economic level of our parents? We dream no big dreams, proffer no awe-inspiring visions, we hunker-down in front of our flatscreens and computers in self-resigned mediocrity and expect no more than that level of leadership from those who run this country, this state and this region. Even our defense of and advocacy for freedom abroad is half-hearted at best and tepid at worst. Perhaps our generation trails in accomplishments than that of “The Greatest Generation” who preceded us specifically because of our lack of grand visions and bold challenges.
Space exploration is a metaphor for a country that won’t be constrained by boundaries, by lethargy, by process, by bureaucracy. We need to swing for the stars in everything we do, so that mankind will be challenged to exceed our perceived abilities and pessimistic expectations. Until this country starts developing and articulating bold, grand visions we will continue to be mired in the miasma and muck of mediocrity. Ad Astra – Latin for “to the stars” (or “El Al,” “to the sky” in Hebrew) has got to be our slogan as we have to reach beyond ourselves and our daily lives so as to elevate humanity and inspire mankind.
Concrete Realities
Back down here on earth, you need to be aware of the ongoing construction nearly every evening now on the Southbound Van Wyck Expressway. They’re tearing up the old asphalt and laying down new pavement. This is closing two of three lanes and will jam you up after 9:00 p.m. if you’re heading back to The Five Towns from Manhattan. Check traffic reports on the radio and detour through the Cross Island Parkway, which, while being more miles will save you at least 20-30 minutes of bumper-to-bumper late night aggravation. Kudos though to cash-strapped New York City for finding the resources from somewhere to repave this highly trafficked and essential North-South artery. Now, we need them to get moving on the Grand Central Parkway by La Guardia Airport which is a colossal mess to the underside of your car. Work on that has been moribund for at least a year now with no progress anywhere in sight.
Monday, May 23, 2011 at 05:27PM 
