We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too. –JFK
I get all choked up over space. I don’t mean the imaginary space you see on TV and in Star Trek (which I am still processing, please don’t make me post spoilers), I mean SPACE, the stuff out there. The place where we’re all floating like a giant blue marble in a sea of inky black, the whole thing punctuated with twinkly lights and mystery. Astronauts? They blow my mind. I can not believe that these superhumans strap themselves in tiny tin cans to giant explosive rockets and go off to see what’s out there because they can. It. Kills. Me.
So you can imagine that I was kind of an emotional mess at the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum. I could not believe the tiny capsules, the fragile jumpsuits with bubble helmets, the film footage and newspaper headlines and odd little artifacts and replicas of the stuff that makes up space exploration. Peering into the tiny window on a replicated space travel module freaked me right out, I tried to imagine what it’s like to be in there untethered by the strings of gravity. High above in the vaulted ceilings of the Space Museum, there’s a space suit tied by an umbillical cord to the little ship, a human figure floating in midair, defying gravity and good sense and planetary existence. I stood there, gaping upward, in the middle of that cavernous space, and tried to imagine what it must be like to anchor your cables and step outside into the vast unknowable expanse of space. Then I watched JFK’s speech and I had to go sit down for a while.
Think about it, the unbelievable miracle of space travel. Looking at all those switches and wires and analog meters made me crazy — the technology I use to write this far advances anything those astronauts had and yet, they went to SPACE and came back. I just sit around writing, thinking it’s a big deal if I can write to you from Hawaii or Vietnam. Imagine the unshakeable faith those travelers had in their journey, they knew that they would either come home or die trying, and sometimes, they didn’t get far off the ground before they did exactly that — die trying, I mean. The spirit of adventure in those humans, oh, I’m just overwhelmed by it. How could I not be?
It’s not a perfect museum, the gaping space feels too big, oddly, and I didn’t feel like I got the information I wanted about the stuff I was looking at. But I was completely, utterly awed by the idea of space travel all over again. If that’s the museum’s goal, well, it’s a complete success. Mission accomplished, I guess.
In case you’ve not seen it, here’s the “We Choose to Go to the Moon” speech. The clip is about 20 minutes; it’s worth it.
The Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum is just outside of McMinnville Oregon.
I totally agree with you about SPACE. I once had the opportunity to be in the same room with Neil Armstrong, James Lovell and several other space travelers. It was pretty overwhelming. I have been to Evergreen a couple of times. They must have added the space exhibit since I visited. My favorite thing at Evergreen was the SR-71 “Blackbird”, a plane that my father worked on back in the 1960s.
We got a couple brother cats (one of them sadly deceased at this time) and we named them Yuri and Neal.
So yeah. Space.
Not only is it a fabulous human adventure, it’s paid stunning dividends. Anyone who’s survived a major health emergency in the last several decades owes their life to NASA.
And they (we) did it because we could.
I always make an effort to remember the cosmonauts too. They may have been part of the “evil empire” we were contesting with but on a personal level I’ll bet you a dollar to a donut they went into space for the exact same reasons our astronauts did. And they suffered more losses as well.
Let’s go to Mars next, shall we? We can run the operation from Moonbase Alpha, p’raps? And maybe send a crew chosen from the best of all such in any country, of whatever race or gender.
Lawsy. I’ll stop raving now. We definitely agree on the space thing.
Pam, I am totally with you. The men and women — talented smarty-pants types — who go to space astound me. And the images we get from the Hubble Telescope are heart-breakingly gorgeous! I am proud to pay my taxes to support the good work of NASA. Proud, I say!
@HH: Oh, I’m with you on the Cosmonauts. I blew a freakin’ gasket when I saw that thing they sent Gargarin up in. To say that he was fearless doesn’t even BEGIN to express it. What, did they shoot him out of a cannon in that little egg? Holy freakin’ hell.
A-hem. Yes. Agreed.
I’m a HUGE space fan – I even had a space-themed birthday party just to *raise awareness* of outer space and all things limitless. People don’t think about it that much, at least not as much as I think they should. 🙂 To infinity and beyond, I say!
Guess I should start paying my taxes.
Space nerds unite! One of my favorite moments at Gnomedex last year was when the guy from the Mars Rover was speaking. A room full of chatty, snarky, can’t stop typing nerds went DEAD SILENT and everyone just kind of gawked in total awe.
It didn’t hurt that the guy looked kinda like Henry, Betty’s boyfriend.
Mars. Yes.
I found this blog post after having an emotional moment while watching “The First” on Hulu…. you posted a day before my birthday in 2009 so I feel obliged to comment.
I completely agree. There’s an unexplained draw to space and desire to be an astronaut that’s getting my eyes blurry just typing this. I tried like hell but could never make the cut and not it’s like a hole in my spirit. A “space” for space in my heart… god willing I’ll touch the stars and see the sunrise and set every 92 minutes.