The Great Decline---by Freind

OPINION

Freind: Far out! Newt Gingrich Is Right to Shoot for the Moon
Published: Tuesday, January 31, 2012

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By CHRIS FREIND,
Times Guest Columnist



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In May 1963, the astronaut sitting atop the Mercury-Atlas rocket “went higher, farther, and faster than any other American … for a brief moment, Gordo Cooper became the greatest pilot anyone had ever seen.” So were the ending words of The Right Stuff, an incredibly inspirational film that followed the brave exploits of America’s space pioneers, as chronicled in Tom Wolfe’s famous book of the same title.

Heroes they were: Chuck Yeager, Alan Shepard, John Glenn, Neil Armstrong and all the others who volunteered to charge into the unknown, routinely working on projects that more often resembled suicide missions than scientific research. While they garnered glory and headlines, these men were deeply driven by something far more important: the opportunity to put America on top in the space race, and in doing so, become part of arguably the most exciting time in all of civilization. These explorers opened the door to the final frontier, an astounding achievement that taught the whole of humankind that no dreams were too big, and that men and women could aspire to do things greater than themselves. They literally made true the can-do spirit that “the sky is the limit.”

But their road was paved with ridicule and doubt. Just years before these men—and the countless unsung heroes at NASA—achieved the impossible, their ambitions were considered folly. Putting a man in space? Pure science fiction. Landing on the moon? Unthinkable, unattainable, unwise. Reaching for the stars? Grow up.

Yet a mere 58 years after the Wright brothers first took flight, America put those cynics out to pasture as Shepard blasted into the record books, with Armstrong later taking the greatest “step” in human history.

In addition to the lofty goals of exploring worlds beyond our own, the space race fostered something else: a fierce sense of nationalism that unleashed America’s competitive spirit as never before. And for good reason. The Reds beat us into orbit, hell-bent on dominating outer space. From that point, it was “game on.” And you know what? We won. Repeated trips to the moon, deep-space probes, interplanetary missions, permanently manned space stations, and newly discovered technologies that later benefitted Americans in every aspect of their lives.

That undisputed American leadership was as bold as it was purpose-driven, the result of generations inspired to study mathematics and science like never before, all for the opportunity to do things no one else had ever done—to be on the cutting edge not just of technology, but of humanity.

The United States still had its problems, of course, but there was never the slightest doubt that it would continue to achieve unparalleled greatness as the most benevolent nation the world had ever known. From attaining civil rights for all its citizens to being the beacon of hope for oppressed peoples the world over—and yes, to push the envelope in space—America embodied the spirit that it would always be on an upward trajectory. Mediocrity, timidness—and fear itself—were not part of the American vocabulary, and dreams were simply visions soon to be realized.

But somewhere along the way, we lost that spirit. And oh how things have changed.

Now we find ourselves in the midst of The Great Decline—a situation we have brought upon ourselves—slogging through a tragedy that only seems to be accelerating.

We haven’t been back to the moon to unlock its vast secrets in nearly four decades. We have all but abandoned plans for a manned mission to Mars. And most telling, we no longer possess any means of transporting Americans into space, instead relying on the Russians to get us to the (misnamed) International Space Station—you remember, the one America engineered, constructed, financed and put into orbit. Yes, the same one that the Ruskies have decided to eventually abandon, allowing it to fall back to Earth as a crumbling fireball, a once-proud testament to American ingenuity vaporizing right before our very eyes. The symbolism of America’s fate is sickening in its reality.