I was born just a few months after the return of the last human crewed Earth mission to the Moon. Apollo 17 launched on December 7, 1972, it’s lunar module Challenger landing on the surface of the Moon on December 11^th. Recently passed-away Gene Cernan, the last human to step foot on the Moon, was mission commander. His partner on the surface, Harrison Schmitt, was the first scientist, non-military astronaut to fly. His specialty of geology was highlighted on this mission, as it was perhaps the most scientifically and research minded of the Apollo missions.

The Apollo program had united our country throughout the turbulent 1960’s. Sparked by the Cold War challenge of the Soviet Union’s own space program, with a goal laid out by President Kennedy first to Congress in May of 1961, and then described to the nation at Rice University in September of 1962, the program was as incredible as it was audacious. We had only learned to fly not even 60 years prior. We had only crossed an ocean by air 35 years before. NASA had only been around for four years. And the USA had just BARELY launched humans into orbit, with Project Mercury achieving success in late 1961, and John Glenn becoming the first American to orbit the Earth EIGHT MONTHS prior to Kennedy’s speech at Rice. We had dipped one toe into the pool of space. Taken one step out of the cradle of Earth. And President Kennedy was asking us to run a marathon.

There is a reason big, bold initiatives are now called “moonshots.”

Kennedy had provided a golden vision for our country, and out of remembrance and determination to beat the Soviets (who had fallen badly behind and basically called the race early on) our country soldiered on until Apollo 11 landed in 1969. The Presidents who followed, facing tight budgets, social unrest sparked by the demands of equality and civil rights, as well as our deepening, darkening involvement in Vietnam, cancelled everything beyond Apollo 17 by 1971. While Apollo hardware would continue being used, launching Skylab, our first space station, as well as the incredible joint mission with the Soviets, Apollo-Soyuz in July 1975. Apollo-Soyuz, in addition to cementing a tradition where, despite all our rivalries on the ground, would see Russian and U.S. cooperation continue in space, officially marked the end of the Space Race, which had inspired our trip to the Moon in the first place.

In less than a decade we had gone from barely reaching orbit to reaching the surface of another planetary body in our Solar System.

Since Cernan and Schmitt returned home, we have not been back to the Moon.

Nor have we had a unified, national mission. We need one. Badly.

Our country is divided politically. It is divided based on race, sex, sexual orientation, income level and virtually any other social-political level you can think of. It is divided over who our friends have been and who our friends should be. We can’t even talk to each other in civil tone or while using critical thinking skills. There are times it feels like we are on opposite side of Valles Marinares.

We need a new mission. Something to unite us in a common cause, for the betterment of our country, of our world, and of ourselves. We can even use the old argument national pride argument – that we should embark on a new mission to “be the first.” It can be anyone of the number of things. A literal moonshot again – China, Europe and Russia have all publicly mentioned a permanent presence on the Moon. China will likely land taikonauts on the Moon sometime in the 2020’s. Natural resources are abundant on the lunar surface – iron, aluminum, titanium, silicon, and other metals are present. There is even water present, not in liquid form, but accessible for processing into fuel and drinking water.

Or Mars. We could be there within ten years, 15 if we are conservative. First on Mars—it would be a coup for our nation for sure. SpaceX and Blue Origins have stated they intend

on going there, so the U.S. might get there first. But is it the same to have a private company land, stake claim not for all of us, but for their business interests?

 

 

How about a permanent base at one of the LaGrange points around Earth? Both the ESA and NASA have expressed interest. I’m not talking about a Skylab or International Space Station. I’m talking about a full fledge spaceport. Think “2001: A Space Odyssey” space station.

Or forget about space for the time being. Remember the “Cancer Moonshot” President Obama started a little over a year ago? Public discussion didn’t get much past the initial speech, but VP Joe Biden delivered over $6 billion in research funding in that time, and remains involved. Imagine what we could do if we made that a national, funded priority.

Ocean research? Why doesn’t the nation operate a full size deep-sea research submarine? Ever see the show “Seaquest”? Yeah, not that far out of the realm of possibility if we put our mind to it. In a way, we know less about the waters of our world than we do about space…and with ocean levels rising, we might as well get to know it better.

Speaking of oceans, how about the fight against climate change? A moonshot here would change our world forever. Green energy, in the form of solar (both land and space based), fusion, wind, and underwater tidal turbines could unlike cheap (if not free) energy for the entire world. If we wanted to, we could convert to some of these forms and completely wean ourselves off fossil fuels in five years.

Don’t forget about our crumbling infrastructure. It will take FAR more than a trillion dollars to fix our roads, bridges, mass transit, power grid, ports and waters systems. Yet there is no reason NOT to invest heavily in the repair of our country’s physical assets. And we wouldn’t have to stop there – the world needs a lot of help in this department. U.S. based construction companies could help with water treatment facilities, transportation systems, all over the globe.

Bottom line, we have options. Pick one. Or pick all.

Why not? Why not make it a national priority to head to the Moon, then to Mars, all while building a permanent LaGrange point space base. At the same time, we could focus all our medical tech on eliminating cancer and other diseases—true Star Trek-style medicine is within our grasp now, and the research could go a long way towards helping us with long range space flight past Mars. Invest massively in power technology – we need to go fossil free, and we need new tech, once again, for space travel. Commission large, oceanic surface and submersible craft for research. We could expand our living quarters to floating and underwater cities. And fix everything. We have millions of people in need of manual, construction-style labor.

There is nothing holding us back except will power. Rather than drawing in, building massive walls to keep out the world, we should be reaching out, gathering talent, and spreading our wings.

Moonshot. Time to decide what we want, and then just do it.

**A link to the article that at least partially inspired this post:  https://www.wired.com/2017/01/put-people-mars-2033-good-nation/