which created a financial multiplication factor that increased the gross
national product several times than
what was invested by introducing
these new technologies nationally
and making us more competitive in
the world marketplace.
“The early days of Apollo were
rather heady. They returned many
new technologies to our nation,
commercially, as well as in terms of
pride, spirit, and focus on education
for the youth coming up. You just
don’t see real, concrete challenges
for them anymore. It just isn’t there.
“We need national and administration leadership that takes its eyes
off its shoes and looks to the horizon
and beyond for human exploration.
Our Moon, Mars, and other bodies
in our solar system should be specifically targeted with a clear, focused
and logical overall plan. Addressing
asteroids can be accommodated
but only as a byproduct of these
main objectives. No doubt America
has put itself in a highly restrictive
financial position. However, if we
do not clearly lay out visionary programs that build on the Mercury,
Gemini, Apollo, Skylab, Apollo-Soyuz
and Shuttle programs, we will remain
in the doldrums into which we have
retreated. Progress and necessary
support comes only from vision and
drive, not timidity and withdrawal.”
Looking into future exploration
missions, Gibson has an opinion on
what we should be doing now in order to eventual become an interstellar species.
Gibson: “To instill an overriding,
long-term vision in our youth, general population and national leadership, we collectively have to create
greater awareness of the bigger picture. When we got back and looked
at what we had done – travelled 35
million miles in 84 days – we thought
that we really had accomplished
a lot. Then we got out the calculator and realized that it takes light
just three minutes to go that same
distance. Yet it takes light over four
years just to reach our nearest star. So
when it comes to REAL space travel,
we’ve barely nudged the tip of our
collective toe out the front door.
“I have no doubt that we will eventually travel out to other star systems.
But that is many generations down
www.RocketSTEM.org
the road. I can’t predict how we are
going to work around the immense
distances and the need to accelerate up close to the speed of light,
but eventually that will happen.
“In the shorter term, we’ve got a
whole solar system out there to explore. We need to focus on specific
visionary programs and develop the
capabilities to successfully perform
them. I would first go back to the
Moon, and then on to Mars. Mars
appears to present a good opportunity for finding some form of life.
We’ve found water there and we
even better ones in the longer term.
Eventually we will be able to image
the details of planets around other
stars. And if we do see one, a blue
planet with an oxygen atmosphere,
the pull would be irresistible!
“We’re discovering planets all
the time. We’re bound to find some
planets that have a potential for life
which could have matured like it has
here on Earth. There are bound to be
many planets that are in their stars’
’Goldilocks’ zone; that is, where it is
not too hot, not too cold and free of
excessive radiation and gravity. New
Scientist-astronaut Ed Gibson has just egressed the Skylab EVA hatchway during the final
Photo: NASA
Skylab Extravehicular Activity EVA which took place on February 3, 1974.
might also find some evidence of
past or even present life. Much of
these early explorations can best be
done unmanned, as we are doing
now, but ultimately it’s we who have
to go there in person to see, feel and
study this new turf up close.
“Then we should spread out to
other bodies in our solar system.
We’re learning a great deal every
day about other moons and planets.
Again, the potential for life is one of
the drawing cards. Also, the Hubble
Space Telescope is a great observatory, but I’d like to see the James
Webb Telescope in operation and
knowledge will always be a continuous draw.
“In fact, the more we learn, the
more ignorant we realize we are. Recently we come to understand that
what we thought was our total world
is really at most five percent of the
universe in which we are immersed.
Dark matter and dark energy make
up the remainder...unless there’s
more out there of which we are not
yet aware.
“There’s a lot to do, a lot to learn
and a lot to utilize. If we truly are a
great nation, we will take our vision off
our shoes and look to the horizon!”
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