. . . on December 14th, 1972, the Apollo 17 mission left the Moon. It was the last manned space mission to our nearest celestial body.
The mission was notable for its spectacular night launch (click to enlarge - it's worth it!);
and for the longest and most distant excursions from the lunar landing module of any Apollo mission.
Thirty-six years later . . . and we're still no nearer the stars. If, like me, you believe that humanity's future lies in the galaxy, rather than confined to this rapidly deteriorating planet of ours, that's a very frustrating thought.
I wonder how much longer it will be before we return to the moon? Based on current space programs, the Chinese, the Japanese and the Indians look like some or all of them will beat us to it - and who knows where they'll go from there?
Come on, NASA!
Peter
2 comments:
Set rules for private property and loosen the restrictions on building and testing rockets and you'll get dozens of people heading up there. NASA is not the answer, hasn't been for decades.
NASA has been moving away from manned space flight, especially now that we've gotten better with robotics.
The future of manned space flight belongs to the risk takers and daredevils, people you rarely find in government except for the military. And the military branch that thinks it owns space (the Air Force) is so bogged down over safety and it's own red tape that there are almost no risk takers left among the ranks.
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