Word: space
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1960-1969
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...long ago, a critic of the space program suggested that as soon as the first astronauts came safely back from the moon, we should wind up manned flight and leave exploration entirely to robots. This may well rank as the silliest statement of a notably silly decade; to match it one must imagine Columbus saying: "Well, boys, there's land on the horizon-now let's go home...
Manned operations will be vital for the development of space industry. Even if-as is likely-most of the satellites for communications, meteorological, earth survey and other purposes will be automatic devices, we shall need human crews to install and service them...
...moon is only the first milestone on the road to the stars. The exploration of space-by man and machine, for each complements the other-will be a continuing process with countless goals, but no final end. When our grandchildren look back at earth, they will find it incredible that anyone there failed to realize so obvious a fact of life...
Today's space technology, for all its glittering hardware, is still in the log-canoe stage. The next decade, therefore, despite all the spectacular achievements it will surely bring, will be a period of consolidation. Such a technological plateau occurred in 1945-55, when the results of wartime rocket research had to be assimilated before the first breakthrough into space was possible. We are now entering a very similar period; some time after 1985, the true space age will begin to dawn...
...history of technology teaches us that the right tool always arrives at the right time; witness how the transistor was ready when the space age dawned. The cycle may be beginning again, leading to feats of astronomical engineering as inconceivable to us as televising would have been to the Victorians. Whatever technologies the future may bring, the doors of heaven are now opening; this is the central fact...