(WOIO) -
Well, it's hard to believe it's been so long ago but the nation celebrated the 50th Anniversary this week of John Glenn's historic flight into orbit. Regrettably, the 90-year old former astronaut, U.S. Senator and Ohio's favorite son is not happy with the current state of America's space program and he is right to be concerned.
You know, the final shuttle flight took place last year bringing to a close a half century of American space exploration and essentially putting NASA into moth balls. Any further travel by American astronauts to the space station will require Americans to hitch a ride on a Russian spacecraft.
Well, Glenn says it's not only unseemly but short-sighted. He also worries about the loss of technical innovation which the space program contributed to the world.
Furthermore, Glenn like others, also know that the drive to explore and colonize other lands and even other worlds is inherent in the human condition and for America, which pioneered the reach into space, to now abandon that most fundamental of human yearnings -- represents a sad retreat for a proud nation.
Write and let me know what you think. I'm Bill Applegate.
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