Congrats on the Pluto flyby!

[Don Shepherd]

(07-15-2015 10:18 AM)W.B.Grant Wrote:  I'm reminded of my Dad watching the live video from Apollo 8 in 1968.
"It's a great feat, boys," he said. "A great feat."
I wish he could have seen this one.
What a tremendous feat.

I agree. In July of 1969 I drove to Florida to film the liftoff of Apollo 11, the first moon landing. I was 18. I've still got that super-8 film, since converted to DVD of course.

In the 60's, everyone followed every launch. We watched them in school. America could do no wrong. Today, most people won't even pay much attention to the Pluto mission. The US doesn't have the reputation it did in the 60s. Perhaps what we need is the human element returned to the space program: a manned (or womanned) mission to Mars. NASA has talked about it for years, but we need to make it happen.