Manned Space Flight Fascinates Me

Ever since I was a little kid I have been fascinated with manned space flight. Maybe it’s because I’ve grown up in Central Florida, the home of NASA and where the history of the space program is ingrained upon every elementary school student, I don’t know. But there is just something amazing about being able to visit space.

One thing that I love about the history of the space program, and something that both From the Earth to the Moon and Discovery’s When We Left Earth focus upon, is that when the whole thing started no one really had a clue what they were doing. In ‘61 President Kennedy declared that we’d send a man to the moon and return him safely again. At that point the only thing NASA knew how to do was send a man into space for a few minutes and bring him back. But in eight years engineers, scientists, mathematicians and test pilots figured out what it took and made it all possible.

Since the amazing journey that put twelve people on the Moon, NASA has launched dozens of satellites, learned how to take up permanent residence in space, and overcome tragedy twice. The Space Shuttle era is coming to a close in just two short years and soon the next chapter of the Space Agency will open. A return to the Moon is in the cards and eventually a manned flight to Mars. Whatever the next chapter holds, it will guarantee to amaze and to continue pushing advancement in science and engineering beyond our current imaginations.