Unforeseen Contingencies

Fifty years ago today two American astronauts set foot on the Moon, the first time humans had traveled to a celestial body.  This was, and is, an astonishing achievement, a great accomplishment.  We humans go where we wish, we shape our environment, we define our limits.  We imagine, we dream... and then we learn, plan, and make the dreams we imagine come true.  This is not an unbounded power, we do have limits, but we don't take them as given and we can work to expand them.

Our future really does lie in space.  We are a restless, moving, expanding species, and our home is where we make it.  We are now taking steps to make space our home, fifty years after the success of Apollo 11.  Future generations will look back on this decade as the time in which humans truly became space faring and began our extra-terrestrial economy, making space our home.  Fifty years late, perhaps, but it is time.

Heartland's Edward Hudgins has an excellent piece in today's Washington Examiner that summarizes the meaning of the landing.  We don't need more government control, we don't need to reduce our expectations, we don't need to live in poverty and fear of Malthusian limits. We need freedom, vision, and the stars.