Thanks to Julie (aka Happy Catholic) who posted this link. Now, I'll be able to visit Mars any time I want!
Nature, Science, & Mathematics: March 2006 Archives
We spent the last two days at KSC (Kennedy Space Center) as part of a homeschooling "special." It was indeed special--two days admission and a lunch along with a plethora of special activities just for the homeschooling set. We saw two magnificent IMAX movies and went on two bus tours, one of which allowed us to look down on the components of the Space Station that have not yet made it into space.
I can't begin to convey the sheer excitement and wonder of all of this. I thought about the time I began to like Science Fiction and wondered why my taste for it had palled so--and then I realized. Much of science fiction reaches beyond the sheer excitement of the next twenty years. It takes for granted interstellar flight, and has produced a whole group of novels which disguise various genres in futuristic drag. We have the O'Brien Novels dressed up in interstellar fleet, and we have the soap operas dressed up as alien encounters.
I guess I'm looking for new writers who recover the wonder of those early years of Science Fiction. I think Kim Stanley Robinson might be one of them--Red Mars, Blue Mars, and Green Mars. Perhaps there are others you all might suggest.
But nothing in science fiction is remotely as exciting as the sheer possibility of the next twenty years or so. According to NASA's mission statement/vision, we will begin to see the establishment of a lunar colony as early as 2018. That is reach-out-and-touch it is so close.
Well, I guess you can tell that KSC really lit stirred some embers I had not realized had been so ashed over.
