Pat Oliphant for August 27, 2012

I remember the day, shortly after my separation from active duty with the U.S. Army.“Duh.. Whatever,” sums up the inspiration of today’s youth – unfortunately.What a pity.

Youth is wasted on the young. (No, I do not claim to have originated the quote. It probably goes back as far as recorded language.)

Not “duh…Whatever”, but “Meh. Whatever.” They’ve simply never known a time when the moon landing was anything other than old news. If you were 16 for the Apollo landing, how much interest would you have as your grandpa gushed over Lindbergh?

“And the amazing part is that the Lunar Lander probably had LESS computing power then the average gaming system does today!”

And the work of the entire Mission Control team in 1969 could now be done by one Middle Schooler using only his thumbs…

If junior doesn’t know or care about the rest of the world past or present, maybe it’s because of how he’s been raised.

Sad, but very, very true.

The Kid is obviously the son of one of the Scientifically-in-Denial-of-Science Republicans who is on the Congressional Committee to Investigate Science. May God help us all!

It was the day I was wounded in Vietnam, I remember we were listening to the AFRVN update before heading out on patrol. I got to watch the next landing from a VA hospital bed. Fromwhat I understand they did it with less computing power than is in the desktop from which I post this. Life is sweet.

I was in the backcountry, watching on a guy’s tiny portable TV picking up a signal from a repeater. Technology has come a LONG way since then, largely due to the space program.

Twelve men walked on the moon, including Buzz with Neil. WE owe them all a debt of gratitude for their courage, intelligence, and dedication to furthering “Man’s” adventure.

ARMSTRONG SERVICE: A private service is planned Friday in Cincinnati for astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, and President Barack Obama has ordered U.S. flags at half-staff. Armstrong, 82, died Saturday.

Out of so many things I could write of this subject that is deeply personal to me, I submit that the concept of space exploration was first helped by written science fiction and then stymied by movie science fiction..Several space scientists of noted achievement (e.g. Goddard, Sagan) stated they first became interested in “what’s out there” through adventure stories of space travel and exploration . Those weren’t necessarily purely scientific stories (Verne, Wells, Burroughs) – they were full of misapplied physics and fantasy. But the enthusiasm was there that stimulated further interest. Indeed, filling in the inaccuracies with real science gave these future scientists skills in research and intellectual discovery..Unfortunately, as they came of age and tried to put these enthusiasms into action, they had to partner with governments for funding. They had compromise with political and military policies. And, sadly, in their own thoroughness, with scientific processes laid bare, they managed to make it all seem in the long run boring. .And it would take a long time to achieve things of value in space – it would span generations, and we know that each generation tends to ridicule the dreams of those previous. And also, economic downturns inevitably come along that sour taxpayers on long-term projects. It’s for those reasons a nearly impossible sell to interest and maintain that interest.. Real space projects will take trillions of dollars – but oh, the rewards eventually! Space stations are where the value will be, but people are hung up on planets and land colonies, things they are used to. And so, the funding goes elsewhere..But since the experience of space is so tantalizing, the movies took it up. Of course, they skipped the necessary gradual steps to achievement and went right to the end results. Then it was no longer boring, and for the price of movie tickets one could seemingly have it. As with so many things that films handle, the experience was virtualized to such an extent that it satisfied the urge rather than stimulated it forward, at least in this country..But never fear, some other governments will build on the technology and carry it onward. Notice that China and India, with American money so thoughtfully supplied through disgraceful trade deficits, are planning their own space projects. Some predict that by 2020 they will have replayed all our space achievements and begin to surpass them. And of course, the Russians maintain their projects at low levels still..Am I jealous, do I feel cheated? In a way. No … YES! But I was never going to see it, anyway, just as the first fish out of the sea onto land would never glimpse the extent of land-life that would ensue. At least some segment of humanity might be out there. And buried deep within them will be some hint of Neil Armstrong’s genes, and some of mine, too. .For no special reason other than to recommend a good book that presents a sufficiently realistic but ultimately inspirational view of space travel and colonization (of the type that I grew up with and still dream of), I suggest reading THE WORLD AT THE END OF TIME, by Frederik Pohl.

I was five years old, and where we were staying for the summer didn’t have phones or tvs. We were driven to the local hotel to watch on a big ole black and white tv. Hard to comprehend what a big night that was in so many ways.The only era in my life when science was cool.

I was fourteen years old , and I’d been dreaming of space flight and landing on other planets since I was two years old: my classmates laughed when I said, in answer to ‘what do you want to be when you grow up?’, “An Astronaut!”, I said. “You can’t do that, that’s only for white people!”, they yelled back. The day that the lander touched down and Armstrong said those famous words, I was planted right in front of a black & white tv – I don’t think I blinked for the entire event – I know I didn’t know anything else was going on in the world. Thanks, Neil.