Apollo 11 Anniversary, Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin, and Interview a Day

Three years ago I shared an article on this blog: Apollo 11 Anniversary and the Lunar Library. I wrote about the 50th anniversary, Elon Musk and his space Tesla, and the new lunar archives. I also mentioned the (then) recently discovered black hole, and other space related events.

It's only been a couple of years since then, separated by a global pandemic, and yet our planet has only continued to reach for the stars. SpaceX continues their work with NASA. Check out this info on the Falcon 9 rocket and more here.

Last year, Richard Branson and the crew of Virgin Galactic successfully completed their first space flight. Branson hopes to make commercial flights s common possibility. His work and investments to that end have excited thousands. If you missed it, check out:

Curious what veteran space explorers thought? Check out:

Shortly after, Jeff Bezos joined the space race accomplishments when his Blue Origin launched soon after the previous post. This Amazon shuttle launch could have easily been overshadowed by the previous forays to space from Tesla and Virgin. However, it had one claim on my excitement that the previous launches had not. Wally Funk was aboard. 

For those who don't understand the significance of Blue Origin sending Wally Funk to space: she was one of the original Mercury 13 (April 1959), a group of women in an experimental, privately-funded program who underwent the same physiological training as male NASA astronauts, to see if they could handle it (spoiler, they could). These women were not NASA astronauts, and none of them ever flew.

Funk scored higher than John Glenn on many of the tests. Glenn even said women shouldn't go to space and once said "The fact that women are not in this field is a fact of our social order." But now, Funk fulfilled her lifelong dream. She flew to space, and she stole the record of becoming the oldest person in space right out from under John Glenn's feet.

I love that her dream finally came true. This is further proof that we are never too old to dream, or to accomplish our goals.

Since December of 2019, a friend of mine (Nathan Price) has been on a personal mission to interview a person a day about our obsession with the moon. He plans to continue through the end of 2024. His goal: to discuss the moon and keep video thoughts on what humans were thinking about the reach for space leading up to our return to the moon. His subjects include people who feel the whole thing is a hoax - Neil Armstrong never went to the moon, professional scientists, teachers, stay-at-home moms, and everyone in between. If you'd like to know more, view his interviews, or even participate in one yourself: Countdown to the Moon Interviews and His Daily Query

Please take some time to watch at least a few. There are interviews here with those who are excited about the modern day the space race, some who are ambivalent, and some who still do not believe any of it is real - very interesting variety of views available in 10 - 90 minute increments. You can also see my husband and I talking with him on the 52nd anniversary of the first man on the moon at: https://www.countdowntothemoon.org/2021/07/21/1258-bill-and-sylvia/

All of this was very exciting to me and put me in the mood to read some Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, and Andy Weir. 

Interested in fiction inspired by the moon? Check out Andy Weir's Artemis.

How about you? Are you interested in participating in an interview? Are you inspired by the human grasp for space? What has surprised you most about reaching for the stars? What are you most looking forward to in the future?