Reading of America’s successes of the past depresses me since we have no ability to do this under the current circumstances.
We don’t even have a space program with the shuttle any longer. At least Obama made them do a fly over of the shuttle on the way to the mothballs so that it would look like we were doing something.
I recall a story from not long ago about a youngster who asked an astronaut what he must do to prepare for such a career. The astronaut replied, "learn Russian."