My Observations on Space Travel

In 1992, I was listening to what I then suspected would be the last public speech of former President Ronald Reagan as he nominated George W. Bush as the Republican nominee for the presidency of the United States at the Republican National Convention.  It was Reagan’s last public speech and I didn’t vote for Bush – one of the rare times I was on the right side of an election – as William J. Clinton was elected.  But what I do remember of that speech has remained with me every since.  Reagan made several very impressionable observations as to what he had witnessed first hand in his life.  One of the most awe striking observations was that he had ridden in a horse and buggy as a youth and shook the hands of men who had walked upon the moon – highlighting the incredible advancements in technology in his lifetime.

 I remember thinking at the time that my own life has seen similar “fast-forwards of progress” – progress that staggers the mind as to how quickly science moves us through our own short periods of time here on earth among men and women of similar dreams and abilities.  This section will deal with man’s dream of flying beyond the horizon and out of the sight of us mortals here on earth, at least by the naked eye.

 I have always felt extremely close to the Space Program for a number of reasons.  Most importantly, I have lived in Florida since before the program began and have been physically in this state within several hundred miles of Cape Kennedy formerly known as Cape Canaveral for all of the launches to date.  Second, I attended a year of college in Melbourne Florida within several miles of the cape for a year when the space program was in its heyday of fortune and fame.  At school, the space program was a prime consideration and a number of astronauts have earned degrees from that school.  Third, during my lifetime especially in the formative years the United States had a passion for competition with the rest of the world for industrial development and military superiority.  The space race was a huge part of that competition.

 I will comment throughout where I was in life at key moments in the space program’s travels and my observations to events as they unfolded around me.  These remarks will be in the larger type under the title of Editor’s Note – the smaller type will be that of writings or comments of NASA as obtained through their official website and others as titled.