Does space exploration still excite you?

Question

I remember nearly wetting my pants when my 5th grade science teacher talked about the possibility of sending astronauts to Pluto in our lifetime.

I hope among hopes that we can send telescopes to orbit stars other than our sun and planets other than those in our own solar system... before I die and miss it all!

Does anyone else still have this excitement, or has everyone lost it since Mars roving has become commonplace?

Answer 1

Yes, although I am less excited now than in the Apollo era.  I don't know if that's because my expectations have matured, if my own work in the aerospace field has made it occupationally commonplace, or whether we're legitimately in a doldrum.

Manned spaceflight is less exciting now than it was because its goals are modest and more practical than bold.

Unmanned spaceflight is producing good science, but lacks much of the drama of exploration.

I think sending astronauts to Pluto is still a long way off, but sending astronauts to Mars is within our touch, if not yet our grasp.

Answer 2

The idea of exploring new places and discovering new things is intriguing, but it isn't like i get hard thinking about big phallic shaped rockets or anything.

Answer 3

Actually no I am not interested in space anymore. I believe that our government should spend the money elsewhere. I mean keeping up the space program could help a lot of other causes.  

Answer 4

I can not wait until we get to observe planets like Saturn up close or Pluto I would love to find out what is on the other side of pluto .

Answer 5

yes, in-fact the government should invest more money in it rather than on a stupid war they cant win

Answer 6

I'm excited still by space probes looking at the outter moons and planets.  I think that human space exploration, though, is probably a waste of time and money, and yields little science other than proving how long exposure to space can break down the human body.

Answer 7

Oh, yes. Things like the Mars rovers just add to the allure--they're one of the few things that's actually happening.

I remember standing on the beach watching Apollo  8 lift off for the moon. The ground started vibrating even be for the sound  hit you--and you felt it as much as you herd it.

And 8 months later when Apollo 11 actually reached the moon.  That was the most incredible time in my life. Not just me--the whole world stopped to watch. All the petty differences were set aside for one brief moment. The fighting in Vietnam stopped. The diplomats were silent. Even the criminals stopped--the evening of July 20,1969 is still a record for virtually no crime.

For one brief moment we--the whole sorry-a** human race--saw what we could be.

Then we threw it away. Making buck poisoning our planet and finding new and better ways of killing each other were more "important."

I hope to God the young people today do better than we did. They certainly couldn't do much worse.