Op-Ed: Space is Back

Ask a child what they want to do when they “grow up” and what will they say? I can name a few: Firefighter. Race Car Driver. Professional _____ Player. Astronaut. Kids are taught and shaped around iconic, ambitious, and challenging things - space being the pinnacle. Okay, just kidding, I’m not writing a cheesy space article - I don’t need to! Space is Back, baby!

Wait, just kidding again, that was incredibly haughty. So instead of a declaration, let me tell you why Space is Back. But first, some history:

The 1960s are considered to be the golden age of the space industry: the Apollo Lunar Program. The atmosphere was fast, dynamic, and demanding. The day-to-day work was meaningful; a nation’s hope and ambition stood behind each woman and man working for/with NASA. To not only put a human in space, but on the freaking moon. The moon! That huge rock in the sky most nights; you know, the one whose forces resulting from its massiveness control the heights of enormous bodies of water on Earth. Anyway, so back to putting people on this space rock: bottom line, it was freaking hard. But our nation took the steps necessary to support this effort and change the world forever.

The next 50 years of NASA’s history were (and are) pretty dang cool too. To catch you up, they launched high-tech, really big, soda cans to orbit the earth [International Space Station], developed a space plane that can withstand earth atmospheric re-entry temperatures of 3000 Fahrenheit (1650C for all of our international readers) [Space Shuttle], sent robots to fly by - or land on - the planets beyond [My Very Excellent Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas], and much more. While these accomplishments are genuinely amazing, this is still what we show in classrooms today to inspire the next generation. Which, side note, watch @ 14s to hear what the people were actually cheering for. JFK knew how to HYPE a crowd, because playing Texas is indeed hard.

Well, back to today. Folks, we’re going again. Yeah, to the Moon (space rock). This time we have 5 years to get there. 

The proposed “Artemis” program (aka. Apollo’s Twin Sister - shoutout to NASA for naming the biggest missions of the 21st century after a female figure) is ambitious. 5 years to complete a really hard mission is much shorter than a lot of the space industries' current design, build, and launch timelines. But it’s time to take calculated risks and inspire the world again. 

We choose to go to the moon. Not because it’s easy, but because it’s, still, really hard. Because it utilizes our insane cognitive capabilities as humans, our nature, our foundation set in exploration and curiosity. Because as a planet, we must put the boots of a woman on another planetary body. Because, this time, the crewed exploration doesn’t stop at the Moon. 

With a decade of support, we're ready to do and build what it takes to send Astronauts (and tourists?) further. To the highest mountain in our solar system on Mars (hello, interplanetary Pata gear). To the methane lakes on Titan (hello, space jet-skis). To asteroids (Hello, Bruce Willis). We’re going.

Thanks to tech billionaires, space is cool again. It’s iconic. We’re building what it takes to go, explore, stay, and build a space economy. 

Folks, just like Texas, Space is Back.

With love,

BS

Opinions are my own and do not reflect those of my employer.