RIP: Neil Armstrong

Earlier this week, the first man ever to set foot on the moon passed away.



When he took that small step, it was a giant leap not only for all of humanity, but for everything good and brave and awe-inspiring in all of us.

Small steps and giant leaps - you did it all, Mr. Armstrong. Your legacy shall live forever.

R.I.P.

ANNIVERSARY: The Right Stuff Gone Shabby

It is almost fifty years ago to the day that John Glenn became the first man to ever orbit the Earth. It was a momentous achievement not only for the United States space program but for all human endeavour into outer space.



Just over seven years later Neil Armstrong became the first man to step onto the moon. A few years after that it was the turn of a series of space shuttle flights, interspersed with space stations, probes into outer space and even a little rover stumbling around a few square feet of Mars - or so it seemed.

It would seem that so much has happened in space exploration in the past fifty years since John Glenn bravely zipped around the world in his little capsule.

Or has it?

Yes, there have been space shuttle triumphs and even space shuttle tragedies, and probes have indeed beamed back fantastic, surreal images from the far reaches of our galaxy and even beyond. Yes, the International Space Station lasted quite a few years and was disbanded just last year (I believe) amidst some fanfare abouts its many achievements. 

But what of our human exploration of the outer realms, of 'the next level?' What of more extensive space travel that goes above and beyond a few people (and mega rich folks who paid their way) floating around a cramped, rather shabby-looking space station? What of all the talk in decades past of imminent travel to Mars and even the colonization and terraformation of Mars? What of trips beyond our moon and our immediate heavens, even if only for a brave few?

Why does it seem that, for all the talk of great 'breakthroughs' in space exploration every once in a while, it all seems rather damp squib when compared to the heady space age days of the 1960s, '70s and even '80s?

We just don't seem to have progressed quite as far and quite as flashily as we should have done. Especially when you consider all the phenomenal technological breakthroughs that have occurred in recent years right here on Earth. Changes that have re-shaped the very human existence as we know it. Space exploration, especially by humans, seems to have become almost pedestrian in comparison...

Why so?

The dissolution of the Soviet Union certainly took the urgent fizz out of the space race that was such a cornerstone of Cold War bragging rights. But is that the only reason, especially for the only remaining 'superpower?'

Or could it possibly be the fact that maybe, just maybe, endless wars that cost billions and billions to wage (if you pardon the pun) somehow take precious public money away from a more 'trivial' and less urgent 'expense' like, say, space exploration?

Wars on Earth preventing us all from the joys and collective knowledge acquired from accelerated space exploration? Surely not, hey?

Those brave men who certainly had the right stuff have certainly had their legacy made most shabby in just a half century, give or take.

Do you get my point?

RAVE: Here's To Yuri Gagarin!

Today is exactly fifty years ago that the Soviet cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin, became the first man to journey into outer pace. He and the USSR stunned the world when he achieved this on April 12th, 1961.

Gagarin, who became beloved the world over not only for his amazing feat, but also for his easy smile and charming boyishness, was a pioneer like very few seen in the 20th century. I wasn't even born when Yuri did his famous flight, yet I heard so much about him growing up from my elders. There had already been other space-age heroes like the first man to orbit the Earth, John Glenn, or the first men on the moon, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, but somehow none of them seemed to be recalled so fondly as Yuri Gagarin.

By the way, I thought the banner today on Google especially fitting in its look and design in commemoration of this special date in human history:

Perhaps there was nostalgia for Yuri when I was younger due to the fact that he was killed so tragically in 1968 whilst a pilot in training on a Mig-15 fighter jet. Perhaps it seemed unfair and especially poignant to that generation that this smiling, affable hero of the burgeoning space era had been killed so young.

Be that as it may, Yuri Gagarin will forever be etched in my memory as the first of the known and beloved space heroes. And in this cynical day and age in which heroes seem so few and far between, even non-existent, then his heroism forever etched in black-and-white photos and footage seems even more poignant and resonant.

There were other space heroes, and no doubt many people who made that space flight possible back in April 1961, but none of them could carry it so perfectly on their shoulders as did the wonderful Yuri Gagarin.

I hope you're smiling up in the stars where you belong, Yuri.