[herr_oberst]

Just last week I read a book about the events leading up to the moon landing (Moon Shot, by Deke Slayton, Alan Shepard and Jay Barbee). Outer Space has never been my main interest, but as a kid growing up during the race to space, I was obviously aware of and interested the events taking place between the US and the USSR.

I thought I knew a lot about the run up to the moon, and in a peripheral way, I guess I did, but in reading the book, it became obvious that I had forgotten or had never known a lot of what was required, therefore it was really good for me to review what happened in the 12 years between Sputnik and Apollo 11.

Only 12 years to do the most incredible thing that man had ever accomplished. Huge new breakthroughs had to be discovered and perfected, hundreds of thousands of people had to administer and build millions of parts and pieces for one common goal, and we did it and the nation and the world celebrated with the same joy and fervor that followed the end of WWII.

My takeaway is bittersweet. The US pulled together and accomplished something amazing, landing a man on the moon, but just 5 missions later, in spite of advances in the landings, we were collectively bored with the whole thing, ready to move on.

Maybe the money really was wasted, because it didn't lead us to the new frontier that it appeared we were heading towards, but at the time, there was a greatness in the US that doesn't exist anymore and may never again.