Space time ping!
In 60 years we went from celebrating the first space walk to just being happy our space hostages have returned safely.
I remember those days...we were still catching up to the Ruskies. Ahead in some areas and behind in others.
We were in the Gemini program and I’d watch Uncle Walter describe each moment of the flights. I tried David Brinkley but it wasn’t the same as Uncle Walter. For all his many faults, he had a “Gee whiz...ain’t that somethin” admiration for Man in Space.
Unfortunately all my viewing was in black and white since my old man thought color was a fad or was simply too cheap to buy one.
But yeah..we watched and were amazed. We knew history was happening. teachers would wheel in TV’s to watch launches...the whole bit. I watched it all and was fascinated.
Much of the country was in awe of what was happening.
And in 1969 the whole world was in awe of the crowning success of landing on the moon.
We lost alot, after Apollo.
Now we don’t fly anymore. Other countries are surpassing us and we don’t seem to care.
NASA was a great outfit at its beginnings. Space walks, moon landings and checking out other planets.
Like any well intentioned government agency, it turned to crap once the democrats got a hold of it. Today NASA is more concerned with climate change than bringing stranded astronauts home.
NASA needs to be gutted and filled with real scientists and technicians devoted to outer space activities.
The thing was - we had a very similar problem at the start, but since the Soviets kept their problem secret, we didn’t know about it and thus couldn’t prepare for it.