So.

 

 

On July 8th the last American space shuttle mission is planned to occur.

 

 

It is the end of the space age (at least “human exploration in space” age).

 

 

I call it the failure of imagination.

 

Or maybe the success of ROI.

 

 

We seem to have become the generation of measurement rather than the generation of imagination.

 

 

And in this we are failing humanity (let alone the upcoming generations).

 

A couple of questions looking back to the beginning of the space age.

 

 

Do I believe that Kennedy was unequivocally correct in invoking the space age (using communism and the soviets as his foil)? No.

 

 

Do I believe he was correct in sparking American ingenuity and imagination and generating a seemingly limitless list of imaginative ideas and innovation … all in the name of space exploration? Yes.

 

In the end … how do I feel about the end of this space age of ours?

 

I feel we are failing what makes America great.

 

We are failing our innate sense of imagination.

 

We are shrinking in front of the immensity of possibilities.

 

We are doing so because we have decided this desire, this ‘imagination,’ to always need an ROI to win or be deemed successful.

 

And it’s too bad. Space exploration has never been about directed exploration.

 

 

It has been about imagination.

The unexpected innovation.

 

 

The discovery uncovered in what could be and the unknown.

 

Let’s call it the good side of ‘unintended consequences.’

 

 

 

By seeking what is ‘out there’ we have found what is.

So we are failing what has made us great by stopping to seek what we cannot see.  We have stopped because there is no ROI or a tangible outcome … or we cannot find a direct correlation to some tangible ROI.

Shit.

 

Double shit.

 

Space exploration has always been about the intangible.

Sure.

We have always sought to put “a man on the moon” or “people in space” but by doing so we have uncovered countless innovations in technology and medicine and new ways of thinking <and making>.

 

 

Of all the things on earth … space exploration has truly never been about the destination but rather what can be found in the journey.

 

 

And we have forgotten that in the world we currently live in where “debt is the measurement” and ROI and “what return are we receiving from our efforts?” and “gosh, can’t we use this money to do something to solve unemployment” that sometimes great projects are begun with a specific objective NOT clearly identified.

 

 

The questions I listed.

Are they all good important questions? Sure.  Absolutely.  And fair questions.

 

 

But they ignore the value of unsought discovery and imagination and the long term value of exploration.

 

We cannot truly envision the value of “outer space exploration.”  And we have lost our ‘vision’ from fear of what is right in front of us now.  Unemployment.  National debt. Some isolationism. Real tangible problems. And they make it easy to diminish exploration & discovery projects.

 

 

 

Look.

 

 

I want to be careful here because I do not want to diminish the pain individuals have with regard to paying bills and the day to day pressures of the recession.

 

But we, as a whole, need to think long term.

 

 

What makes our country great is how we forge through crap like unemployment and recession and day-to-day challenges and get to ‘hope’ and imagination and innovation and find out what is beyond the next horizon.  All of which, in the long term, solves unemployment and recession and the day-to-day hardships.

 

America will succeed.

 

Not by working harder than anyone else.

 

But rather because we permit hope and imagination to prosper.

 

 

Anyway.

 

 

As with most things these days this program dies because of lack of funding (because people cannot put an ROI on the initiative and therefore cut funding).

 

 

So (Bruce) where the heck does the funding come from?

 

This is an easy one for my pea like brain.

 

We constantly talk about cutting corporate taxes.

 

 

Well.

Don’t.

 

Keep taxing them and use some of the funds to fund space exploration.

 

Whew.

Some corporate CEOs are gonna be swearing at good ole Bruce here.

 

 

Well screw ‘em.

 

 

They are being small minded.  When you invest in innovations you have no idea what will pay out and what won’t.

Space exploration is exactly the same.  But in this case at least you know your investment won’t simply die in some focus group or in a testing lab.  This money potentially reaps benefits far beyond what is the next stain remover innovation.  It could pay off in some clothing innovation that permits emerging countries to clothe the younger generation in a way that eliminates some germs and permits the next Einstein to make it past some local epidemic and create instant travel between planets.

 

 

Who knows?

 

I know it sounds unfathomable but that is imagination.

 

 

 

Who thought man could fly let alone go to the moon 200 years ago.

 

 

That is the power of imagination.

 

 

And that is where ROI fails us.

 

 

Space exploration is about the journey.  Not the destination. Exploration and stretching thinking beyond what we see and currently know.

 

few imagine

The ROI is innovation and seeing the unseen … someday.

Not tomorrow … maybe not even a dozen tomorrows from now … but someday.

 

 

So.

 

July 8th marks a sad day in the world of imagination. It marks a day when we have shelved a key step in progress for the future. Let us hope the next generation doesn’t pay for what doesn’t happen because of what this day ends.

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Written by Bruce