BehindBlueI's
Grandmaster
- Oct 3, 2012
- 26,608
- 113
Getting to the moon in 1969 with the occupants of the lunar module alive was a huge accomplishment given the primitive technology. Getting them back to Earth alive from the moon was borderline miraculous. You get that group of engineers, physicists, and math geeks working together to solve a very specific problem and their not only going to push existing tech to its limits, what they learned along the way about those limitations and how they were circumvented had a profound effect on the next generation of technological advancements. It was simply amazing what they did and were it not for that seemingly absurd goal with questionable value to the taxpayer, we'd still be talking on rotary dial phones and engaged in all sorts of other primitive techno-savagery.
I wonder how many children it inspired to go into what we now call STEM career paths? How much of a stepping stone for ideas and tech that weren't even directly related to space travel resulted?
Sitting here stagnating just guarantees we'll be left behind by societies that don't. Humans are built to explore, and America can either lead or follow.