All Roads Lead to Mediocrity and The Death of the Space Shuttle Program

During my last semester of college I took a history course on the rise of the Third Reich.  It was endlessly fascinating and one of my favorite classes.  I was tasked to do a report on Nazi weapons development.  I had little knowledge of the topic.  My primary focus was on the V weapons programs, the V-1 and V-2 rockets.  In order to gain a better understanding of these weapons my husband and I made a trip to Hutchinson, Kansas to a place called the Cosmosphere. 

The Cosmosphere is truly a diamond in the rough of Americana.  It is one of only a few places in the world where a surviving V-1 and V-2 rocket are on display.  It also houses a chronological development of the space program as we know it today.  Now that the space shuttle programs have officially ended, the importance of this museum cannot be underestimated.  It is a receptacle of dreams, of those who looked up at the stars in wonderment.  People like Dr. Goddard, and Wernher von Braun.  Their vision was simple, how to go from point A to point B.  In a post WWII world, their dreams became reality and the United States became the pioneer and leader of the race to space.

Harriet Tubman once said, "Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world".  Unfortunately with the death of the space shuttle program and NASA budget cuts under the Obama administration, we are being told the stars are too far.  Americans are now encouraged to strive for mediocrity, to stay on the same level playing field as everyone else.  

The space shuttle program represented more than just mankind's desire to explore beyond its boundaries.  It symbolized the spirit of the individual that made our nation great.  The United States succeeded where others failed simply because the ideas were organic and freedom of expression was allowed.  They were not coerced or brought about by threats.  It is that very same spirit that is threatened today.  We are being told that we should all do our fair share, pay our fair share, have the same shot at the opportunities in this country.  What this creates is a hive-like mentality.  Instead of working for our own individual goals as deemed by our creator, we are putting the collective ahead of our own needs.  

The collective rarely ever gives back what it takes.  It will take your tax money to pay for everything everyone else wants, it will take your individual privacy for the sake of the safety of the herd, it has no restraint and like locusts in a field it will strip away everything.  Our founding fathers knew how dangerous the collective was to freedom.  They put certain checks and balances into our Constitution to prevent the death of the individual.  However, we seem to have arrived at a juncture where our leaders no longer heed those words that were meant to protect us.

The loss of the space shuttle program and the NASA budget cuts are highly symbolic of a President who not only wants to level the playing field in his own country but to make us subservient to the rest of the world.  Any student of history will acknowledge that someone always fills the void of supremacy on the world's stage.  I fear these maneuvers will only leave our nation vulnerable in the eyes of those who wish to usurp us.  Losing these programs represents the decline of America into a scientific and technological dark age from which we may never recover.  

So I leave you readers with this photo.  The juxtaposition of the death of the shuttle program and the beacon of freedom that welcomed those who had very little and only a dream in their heart.  Although achieving success and reaching as high as you can dream are no longer encouraged, I hope the younger generations will look back and realize what was lost.  Not just the ability to go where no man has gone before but the loss of the American dream.