Additional visions

Abstract

While it was the Americans and the Soviets who opened up space to mankind, and the Americans who landed men on the Moon, all peoples and all nations have yearned for the hopeful future for which space is iconic. Had it been known in the first decade of the 21st century what awaited us in space, on the Moon and on Mars, then the meager financing of NASA would have been multiplied by a factor of 10. Not enough people outside the space community realized the bounty of space. Many did not want to know and had no curiosity. Some people realized how important it was for humankind to extend its activities beyond Earth during Sputnik and Mercury. Some people – and even some politicians – recognized the bounty that awaited those who invested in the science and technology that could support man outside the Earth's atmosphere on the surface of its Moon.