I’ve been thinking a lot today; withdrawing into myself and just wondering why forty years after Apollo 11 took off we are still relegated to living and exploring our planet and just a tiny slice of space above. The TV picture signals sent from the moon of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walking on the moon’s surface went by our closest neighboring star, Proxima Centauri, more than 35 years ago, they whizzed past the bright star Sirius over thirty years ago and passed Zeta Reticuli just a few months ago. The inhabitants of the planets around seventy nine stars could have already looked at those images, and they may be thinking how intelligent of a species we are, and wondering, “What did they do next, I can’t wait to find out.”
I’m afraid as a species we have disappointed any nearby celestial neighbors. Forty years after mankind represented by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon we remain almost earthbound.
I am sure there are many that believe this is best; those that say “why spend money in space, there are more important things to do here on earth,” and those that think we should use robotic devices to explore other worlds. “Why” is a valid question, but to me it has one, and only one, simple answer, and that is because humans were not meant to be caged. Like all animals we were meant to be free, and for humans that freedom means to explore the universe that has been placed before us.
I dearly hope that my children’s generation and my grandchildren make up for the mistake my generation made in slowing space exploration to a virtual halt. We need to open the door of this cage called earth and allow those that want to be truly free to explore.
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