February 22, 2008
"Astronomy compels the soul to look upward and leads us from this world to another,"--Plato, 'The Republic', 342 B.C.
Yes, like Plato we may dream about space travel or even traveling to the moon, especially right now because of a recent array of fascinating space stories in the news.
First off the bat this week, the U.S. Space Shuttle Atlantis landed with near faultless precision in perfect weather after an arguably successful mission to deliver Europe's first permanent space lab into orbit.
Amazing!
The landing happened just in time to clear the way for the U.S. Navy to shoot down a falling spy satellite.
Preposterous!
Once the shuttle completed its mission and landed safely, the U.S. military could fire a missile at a lifeless yet deadly spy satellite that was loaded with toxic rocket propellant and careening toward Earth.
The choppy seas had to cooperate of course so that the ship would stay steady enough to hit its target. Hitting the target was tricky at best, yet it turns out that the Navy was picture perfect with its shot. Still, it will be a few days before anyone knows if the missile was completely successful.
Unbelievable!
Additionally this week, space science experts explained how a super-duper space shield could be ready in a matter of a few years. It would protect us, they say, from dangerous space radiation and would block stray asteroids from smashing Planet Earth into smithereens.
Unimaginable!
A space shuttle lands like a dream. The Navy shoots down an errant missile and hits an impossibly tiny target. A space shield is in Earth's future.
This stuff is better than Star Wars.
If this is not enough space and star excitement for one week, consider the full lunar eclipse we witnessed on Wednesday night.
Watching the eclipse made me recall when man first landed on the moon. As my Dad used to say, "this puts me in the mind of the time when" Apollo 11 and its crew first moon walked.
Do you remember where you were on July 20, 1969?
I was sitting in the audience at Starlight Theatre in Kansas City on a beautiful moonlit summer night when the announcer stopped the show and pointed to the heavens. He said, "Ladies and gentlemen, look up. See the moon. There is a man walking on it right now."
Astonishing!
At that moment in 1969, I would bet that not one in the hushed crowd ever envisioned space shuttles, missiles that could take out spy satellites, or an invisible shield for our planet.
Possible, achievable, but never routine.
Look up ladies and gentlemen and do not miss a minute of the show.
