One or two of you may remember a time, back in the ‘60s, when the country was united in its passion to win the space race.
The USSR had put Yuri Gagarin into space, the first human to orbit the earth and giving the Soviets a leg up on the U.S.
Not to be outdone, President John F. Kennedy said that by gosh and by golly, we will get to the moon first, saying, “We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”
Anyone with a TV, and many without, would have appointment viewing of all of the space launches (those without would stand in front of display windows in television stores that would be tuned to the coverage). Any kid with knowledge of that would dream of one day hopping into a rocket to discover a new planet, or fight a space critter, and the rest of us in the country were pretty united in pride for these achievements.
That excitement continued through the 70’s and 80’s, cooling off toward the end of the space shuttle age and really cooling off when President Barack Obama tasked NASA to combat global warming.
Things sputtered along enough, though, for a space station to be built (not by us, but still). That sense of amazement, though, had dimmed quite a bit, kept alive by the Hubble and then JWST telescopes showing us some amazing things.
In 2024, two astronauts were trapped in the Mir Space Station, and would have been abandoned to their fate because no country could come up with a way to mount a rescue, Elon Musk’s SpaceX was tasked by President Trump to bring them home.
That feeling, that spurring of the imagination, returned for me, which I was able to share with my family, when in March 2025 the launch of the rescue mission was televised. We all watched it, and I told my girls how it used to be, and how that excitement bubbled up again. At first, the girls thought it was boring, but eventually they were caught up in same rush we all felt.
(There was one funny moment, though, when one daughter asked where the ship was going. I told her the space station; she then asked where that was. You really can’t write this stuff.)
I’m now inundated in news, in social media, and in video about the latest space mission — Artemis — and its circumnavigation of the moon. Those incredible pictures, that sense of wonder and awe, all bring back my childhood.
Moreover, it’s my belief that exploration, with a little competition mixed in, will do more to unite a country and a planet than any social or government program. History is replete with examples of when we as a people have a common goal, we unite and accomplish that goal. We set aside differences and face the same direction.
If that direction is off the planet, that’s even better. We’re not done learning, and there are other frontiers to cross, and all of us will be better for it.
Tony Farkas is editor of the Trinity County News-Standard and the San Jacinto News-Times. He can be reached at tony@polkcountypublishing.com.
