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Apollo 11 and Modern America's Can't-Do Spirit
Investor's Business Daily ^ | 07/18/2014 | IBD Staff

Posted on 07/19/2014 6:28:23 AM PDT by IBD editorial writer

Cultural Inertia: Remember how 45 years ago we were suddenly able to say: "If we can send a man to the moon, why can't we (fill in the blank)"? If only we could say the same today.

It's worth remembering Neil Armstrong's July 21, 1969 "giant leap for mankind," if only as a measure of what the country used to be able to accomplish, but increasingly can't do today.

When President Kennedy announced his goal of "sending a man to the moon and returning him safely to earth" in less than nine years, it was a laughably audacious promise.

By May 1961, all the country had managed to achieve in space was to toss Alan Shepard up in a 15-minute suborbital flight powered by a tiny Redstone rocket.

(Excerpt) Read more at news.investors.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: apollo11; brooklynbridge; buzzaldrin; highways; michaelcollins; moonlandings; nasa; neilarmstron; neilarmstrong; spaceexploration
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1 posted on 07/19/2014 6:28:23 AM PDT by IBD editorial writer
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To: IBD editorial writer

May not be as grand as setting men on the moon, but landing a 1 ton rover on a planet millions of miles away is pretty impressive to me.
But I do get the point.....


2 posted on 07/19/2014 6:34:31 AM PDT by 12th_Monkey (One man one vote is a big fail, when the "one" man is an idiot.)
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To: IBD editorial writer

The Left hated the manned space program. Antagonized the Soviets, militarized space, and spent money on projects that could’ve been used “to help the poor people of the world”.


3 posted on 07/19/2014 6:46:24 AM PDT by a fool in paradise (Elian Gonzalez sought asylum and was sent back to Cuba, send these kids back to THEIR parents.)
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To: a fool in paradise

Yep, I remember that.


4 posted on 07/19/2014 6:48:01 AM PDT by ecomcon
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To: IBD editorial writer
It's like this:

If Americans can't protect their children from illegal drug pushers in grammar schools--they can't do anything.

If Americans can't face the truth about their elected officials, including the President of the United States--they can't do anything.

If Americans can't control their national borders--they can't do anything.

There's a big difference between the Americans of the 21st century and the Americans who stormed the beaches of Normandy--destroyed the Nazi Regime in Germany--won the Cold War--conquered polio--put a man on the moon--etc.--etc.--etc.

5 posted on 07/19/2014 6:56:08 AM PDT by Savage Beast (Hubris and denial overwhelm Western Civilization. Nemesis and tragedy always follow.)
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To: a fool in paradise
The Left hated the manned space program. Antagonized the Soviets, militarized space, and spent money on projects that could’ve been used “to help the poor people of the world”.

Lots for folks on this forum share the same opinion. Stupid is like gold, it's wherever you find it.

6 posted on 07/19/2014 6:56:53 AM PDT by Islander7 (There is no septic system so vile, so filthy, the left won't drink from to further their agenda)
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To: IBD editorial writer
I disagree with a lot of the author's points here.

On the one hand, it's great that NASA was able to land a man on the moon and return him safely to earth back in 1969. But a lot of what's behind NASA's "calcification" is that it doesn't make any sense to do these major undertakings just for the sake of doing them. A huge government program in an era that saw the most massive growth in government spending our nation had ever seen isn't necessarily a good indication of our nation's "can-do" spirit.

When you look back at 1969 and see what has developed in space since then, a better question might have been: "What was the point?" There's often a fine line between useful endeavors and constructing massive pyramids just for the sake of building monuments to our egos.

I'd make the case that the most useful developments in space occurred long before 1969. If you had asked people in 1960 which was a more impressive accomplishment ... landing a man on the moon or putting a satellite in permanent orbit, they'd probably pick the first one -- almost unanimously. And yet here we are in 2014, and the permanent presence of thousands of satellites in orbit around the earth (along with a space station that has been manned continuously for almost 14 years) has literally revolutionized the way humans live here on earth. And in retrospect, traveling to the moon seems more and more like a waste of time and money.

7 posted on 07/19/2014 7:06:19 AM PDT by Alberta's Child ("What in the wide, wide world of sports is goin' on here?")
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To: IBD editorial writer

Well part of the problem is we have cut back NASA’s budget so much that it’s a joke of it’s former self. Some things you should just fund because the payoff (science in this case) is worth WAY more than what you pay for it.


8 posted on 07/19/2014 7:16:37 AM PDT by RIghtwardHo
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Berosus; bigheadfred; Bockscar; cardinal4; ColdOne; ...

The same can’t-do mentality is exemplified by the idiots who claim the moon landings were faked, or that bin Laden’s terrorists didn’t destroy the World Trade Center towers or crash into the Pentagon, or DO claim that the Earth’s climate is being shaped by human activity.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/07/photogalleries/apollo-moon-landing-hoax-pictures/


9 posted on 07/19/2014 7:21:41 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: Alberta's Child
You are a case study in what's wrong. You and the rest of the country have shifted your gaze from the future, from improving, from actually accomplishing something to staring into your own navel and trying to please yourself. Now.

All those satellites in orbit, why? So HBO can broadcast ever more prurient, self-destructive garbage into homes. Sure, it is convenient for my wife to be able to call during my 45 minute commute (which is the only time of day I am not two feet from a phone) but is is absolutely transforming? No.

The current generation thinks that because they can please their own appetites quicker, the world has been transformed.

We actively work against true transformation. Nuclear power could have transformed electrical power generation, but we have made that technology practically illegal. The interstate highway system, railroad, power lines, cars, name pretty much any truly transformative technology and then picture it being invented today. It would go nowhere.

Millions of people just like you would look down their noses and ask a rhetorical "Why?". We are forever locked in today because we no longer have the ability to picture tomorrow. Every new technology and idea can only be imagined in terms of our daily lives right now. We can't picture our world or our lives changing anymore.

10 posted on 07/19/2014 7:27:54 AM PDT by hopespringseternal
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To: IBD editorial writer

If you visit Cape Canaveral and the mock-up of the control room - one thing stands out. The many companies represented, and their control and management of the systems of Apollo 11 - Boeing, McDonnel, Sperry, Rockwell.

Apollo 11 was not a triumph of a government agency - it was a triumph of American private industry and individuals, brought together for one specific, clear goal.

If anyone thinks the US Federal Government is going to lead the nation on to greater advances in space, that person is nuts.


11 posted on 07/19/2014 7:28:59 AM PDT by PGR88
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To: Alberta's Child
Satellite technology, missile technology, countless US government gains.
12 posted on 07/19/2014 7:30:21 AM PDT by a fool in paradise (Elian Gonzalez sought asylum and was sent back to Cuba, send these kids back to THEIR parents.)
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To: Alberta's Child

The bigger “what was it all for” question comes up when one looks at what President Obama has done to gut the remnants of the program/team and to surrender all claims of “advantage”.

Same as he is decimating our military and retroactively surrendered the Cold War to his Soviet betters.


13 posted on 07/19/2014 7:32:24 AM PDT by a fool in paradise (Elian Gonzalez sought asylum and was sent back to Cuba, send these kids back to THEIR parents.)
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To: RIghtwardHo
Well part of the problem is we have cut back NASA’s budget so much that it’s a joke of it’s former self. Some things you should just fund because the payoff (science in this case) is worth WAY more than what you pay for it.

Looks like the budget has been pretty consistent to me. Link

What we have now that we didn't have 45 years ago is a commercial space industry. We have private companies delivering supplies to the ISS. We have private companies working on a capsule system to get astronauts up to the ISS. Is there anyone here who honestly believes that the private companies won't accomplish all that better, faster, and more cost effectively than NASA ever could?

14 posted on 07/19/2014 7:36:39 AM PDT by DoodleDawg
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To: IBD editorial writer

I am sure it is just a coincidence that it also coincides with ‘diversity’ being it most important mission over the last 40+ years.

NASA Diversity and Inclusion Strategic Implementation Plan

http://odeo.hq.nasa.gov/documents/diversityInclusion.pdf


15 posted on 07/19/2014 7:39:48 AM PDT by Altura Ct.
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To: hopespringseternal
That has to be one of the strangest posts I've seen on FreeRepublic in a while. I am a case study in what's wrong? Why, because I have the presence of mind to look back and assess the value of something that required a substantial investment of time and money?

I'm not sure why you focus on HBO and cellular telephone technology in your post. For one thing, HBO existed as a cable TV station long before satellite television existed, and cell phones use terrestrial signal transmission technology, not satellites. Secondly, satellite technology goes far beyond personal convenience and entertainment. In my business I use global-positioning data, mapping and satellite imagery for major civil engineering projects. And my clients use this technology for things like crop yield analysis, measuring forest growth over time, and tracking fleets of vehicles all over North America.

I'm not going to sit here and say that YOU are "a case study in what's wrong," but if you think satellite technology is all about convenience and entertainment than I'm going to suggest that maybe you don't know enough about the subject to weigh in on it here.

We are forever locked in today because we no longer have the ability to picture tomorrow.

What kind of gibberish is this? It sounds like something you'd find in a political speech by a candidate with an IQ of around 90. I don't know about you, but I "picture tomorrow" all the time. And the irony is that what really makes it most difficult to "picture tomorrow" is that on a personal level, we have already solved almost every problem that faced the human race up until the last 50-100 years. That's a nice problem to have, isn't it?

16 posted on 07/19/2014 7:53:35 AM PDT by Alberta's Child ("What in the wide, wide world of sports is goin' on here?")
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To: a fool in paradise; All
I should be clear on this topic ...

The points I raised in my first post weren't aimed at the U.S. space program in general, but at the lunar missions in particular. And now in 2014, when we have the benefit of 30+ years of hindsight, I would make the same statements about NASA's space shuttle program. There's a reason why NASA shuts major programs like this down, and it's not all about politics or "calcification."

17 posted on 07/19/2014 8:01:02 AM PDT by Alberta's Child ("What in the wide, wide world of sports is goin' on here?")
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To: IBD editorial writer

NASA turned in to a big PC political tool. Chuck Yeager was the only one with the gonads to prevent the Gemini and Apollo programs from turning in to an affirmative action social statement. If we were ever to send another group to the moon or Mars the first lesbian Hispanic, gay Asian, transgendered black, would all be required regardless of qualification.


18 posted on 07/19/2014 8:18:19 AM PDT by Organic Panic
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To: Alberta's Child
When you look back at 1969 and see what has developed in space since then, a better question might have been: "What was the point?"

The Apollo program had a tremendous inspirational value, and if it weren't for the Soviets pushing us, we wouldn't have had that. Most politicians never liked NASA because they had other ways to buy votes, and NASA never had overwhelming public support. Even though some FReepers like to blame liberals for NASA's decline, it was Nixon who led the charge when it came to scaling back their programs and budget.

Something to be positive about is more non-government participation in space exploration. I'm a fan of Elon Musk: a legal immigrant, American citizen, and our most successful African-American.

19 posted on 07/19/2014 8:20:05 AM PDT by Moonman62 (The US has become a government with a country, rather than a country with a government.)
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To: Organic Panic

Chuck Yeager was the only one with the gonads to prevent the Gemini and Apollo programs from turning in to an affirmative action social statement.

Really?


20 posted on 07/19/2014 8:27:36 AM PDT by Moonman62 (The US has become a government with a country, rather than a country with a government.)
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