"We choose to go to the moon!" Today we are celebrating the fulfillment of John F. Kennedy's dream; man's first landing on the moon.In the summer of 1969 Neil Armstrong was the first man to step foot on the moon. The Apollo 11 Mission took three astronauts to the moon; Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins.
The moon landing inspired our nation to reach impossible goals. President Barrack Obama addressed the need for our nation to invest in research and technologies in order to exceed levels of success achieved at the height of the space race.
Can we still achieve space exploration goals in this time of economic downturn?
CNN reports that NASA is planning to retire its space shuttle fleet by 2010 leaving a five-year gap until the Orion spacecraft would be ready to launch. During this gap American astronauts will use Russian spacecrafts to travel on missions to the International Space Station.
NASA still has dreams of traveling to Mars, but first it plans on returning astronauts to the moon. The Constellation Program will be the new fleet of space exploration vehicles that will carry to the moon and eventually Mars.
How long it will take NASA to achieve its goals will depend on how much funding Congress grants the organization.
40 years ago the United States accomplished the impossible. Our citizens now celebrate that accomplishment and will continued to be inspired by our progress in space.
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