Yeap, I was 3 1/2 years old when humans landed on the moon. Hard to imagine its been 41 years, but there it is. This is one of my first memories and I have no doubt is the beginning of my fascination with space. But that is cool because, it has never been just about space, or the moon, but about technology, exploration, science and dreams as well.
It still is and I have no doubt the moon will always fascinate me. Science Fiction has fueled that fire over the years starting way back with Jules Verne, and still going strong today. I still want to strap a rocket on and fly to the moon, even if science has made those early dreams seem silly. After all, it is rocket science.
The moon was groovy in the seventies and I read science and SF in equal doses to get all there was to know about the moon. I was a kid, but I thought someday we would have a moon base and I could go live there, maybe by the time I got out of college! Then along came the Eighties, and the moon was super cool!
I wanted my MTV almost as much as I wanted my moon house. Looks like I was going to have to settle for music videos and no moon base. Well.. that was okay, for a bit. Madonna was no where near as cool as the moon. There was hope we may get there by Y2K right? Well.. no..
Scientists have discovered water on the moon, which makes it easier to live there in a sustainable habitat, woot! But it is now forty one years after the first lunar landing and its Y2K10!! Where is my moon house?
Now that is groovy! Celebrate the past accomplishments and dream of the future. Kinda how space exploration has been in my lifetime. Except.. we are running out of new stuff to celebrate and I may stomp a foot if my moon house is not ready for my retirement. After all, its just a winter home, the Mars house is the summer villa, and we won't even go down that path..
Construction delays are the pits!
Hooray for an awesome achievement many.. moons.. ago. Time to go back.
The moon has always fascinated me as well, Patrick. I love the possibility of one day traveling into space to visit it. How awesome would that be. Hell, we could be roommates in our moon house :)
Posted by: James Melzer | 07/20/2010 at 05:25 PM
All those words and not one reference to "mooning"? Acadia will have something to say about this!
Posted by: vange | 07/20/2010 at 06:03 PM
I've always wondered why we hadn't done more to try to set up a station on the moon. Building a space station is fine, but I remember fearing that Skylab was gonna drop on my house as a kid (thanks to the news stations).
How awesome would it be? What kind of life would we live? What kind of bandwidth do you think they'd let us tap into? :)
I think we need to privatize the moon program and get things rolling again. How awesome would it be to have a TCA outpost on the MOON!
M-O-O-N! That spells FUN!
Posted by: David Sobkowiak | 07/20/2010 at 06:48 PM
Skylab is falling!! I remember that as well. We could start an artist colony, that would rock! Maybe we should put a bug in Jenny's ear, she can get it done if anyone could!
Posted by: Patrick | 07/20/2010 at 07:10 PM
You know I can't remember the moon landing. I can remember someone honking the horn like a lunatic at the end of Vietnam but not the one that's important to me. I'll visit you guys on the moon if you visit me out at the lagrange point.
Posted by: Chikuba | 07/20/2010 at 08:02 PM
I came back to this again. I was sitting in the Doctor's office doodling and suddenly it brought me back to all the moon bases and space stations I'd drawn all through algebra. Maybe I'll go scribble on some notepaper and have some fun. Anyone got a really boring algebra teacher I can borrow?
Posted by: Chikuba | 07/22/2010 at 03:32 PM
I've been concerned about dealing with those godless moon people ever since I saw this movie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JDaOOw0MEE
Posted by: Jim Ryan | 07/22/2010 at 11:27 PM