With NASA's Shuttle program grinding to a halt, what's next? Nothing apparently. American Astronauts will fly to and from the Space Station on Russian Spacecraft. Galactic hitchhiking.
This past Saturday I got to hear from two Astronauts, Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger (STS-131 Shuttle Discovery) and Gene Cernan (Gemini 9, Apollo 10 & 17) who is the last human to walk on the moon 38 years ago. Cernan was honored with the "Spreading Wings" award at Wings over the Rockies Air and Space Museum.
Here are their thoughts about their experiences in space and why it's important we get a new generation of Americans interested in finding out what's "out there."
Metcalf-Lindenburger:
Gene Cernan:
Speaking with some aerospace engineers recently, the concensus seems to be that the best way to move forward in space exploration is turning it over to private enterprise. Richard Branson is leading the way. The Russians have been charging space tourists $25 million a pop for a trip to the Space Station.
Can you imagine what Apple or Google would have been willing to pay to have their logo on the Shuttle?
We're a nation of explorers. Or at least used to be. This line from The Right Stuff says it all, "No bucks, no Buck Rogers."
Brian Olson
Conversation Starters LLC
"We start the conversation about you"
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