Comments on: Whither Human Spaceflight at the Start of the Second Decade of the 21st Century? http://blog.nasm.si.edu/history/whither-human-spaceflight-at-the-start-of-the-second-decade-of-the-21st-century/ Mon, 20 May 2013 19:01:43 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: Keith McDonald http://blog.nasm.si.edu/history/whither-human-spaceflight-at-the-start-of-the-second-decade-of-the-21st-century/comment-page-1/#comment-24192 Keith McDonald Sun, 27 Mar 2011 03:17:18 +0000 http://blog.nasm.si.edu/?p=2803#comment-24192 Well said. I agree that, while the private sector may yet be the savior of many programs that are ineffectively run by the government, the jury is still out on whether those private interests can tow the line on space access.

You are right when you almost wishfully say that another country will likely have be the most pressing reason to re-assert American firstness in space or on the moon. After all, that was a prime motivator in the drive to put an American on the moon before a Soviet cosmonaut could get there.

In these days of budget cuts and every expenditure being closely scrutinized and second-guessed, I will be surprised if many funds find their way into the space exploration budget. That, in my estimation, is very sad. Sadder still is the average citizen’s lack of concern for all that could be gained from the space program.

On another note, I enjoyed touring the Air and Space Museum in December 2010. I was in Washington to see the Norman Rockwell exhibit at the Museum of American Art. I was somewhat disappointed and perplexed that the Air and Space Museum had not decided to display the original Rockwell paintings in its collection. The rest of the museum was great, but I would have been thrilled to see Rockwell’s paintings from the Man on the Moon series. I thought it would have been a wonderful tie-in with the other show.

Almost forgot – fantastic photos above!

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