I was 12 years old when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon the day before my Mom's 44th birthday in 1969. Joe Dendel had spend the night before at my house, and we watched the telecast together on our black-and-white television.
I had caught Holy Hell from my older brother, Tom, for writing a story about dogs in space and self-propelled, personal rocket backpacks while in grade school. Of course, spacedog Laika was an early pioneer (and victim) of the Soviet space program; and, shuttle astronauts have been using the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU) -- nyah, nyah, Tom! -- for years now. But I remain astounded and ashamed that we haven't been back to the moon for more than 30 years, and don't have the technical capacity to return today even if we had the will.
Were the pioneers -- Von Braun, Glenn, Armstrong, Kraft -- that much ahead of their times, or are we that unimaginative today?
What have we been doing for 40 years?!
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