Space Cowboys Saddle Up

Space Cowboys Saddle Up

– By Ed Kociela –

The small elementary school cafeteria was jammed.

Iveland School, where I learned the 3R’s and how to play kickball like a champ, was a place where they hammered home the importance of reading and the significance of history. On the grounds, there was an old four-room brick schoolhouse that opened its doors in 1936. When I attended the school first-grade classes were held in that little building, which by then sat in the shadow of a magnificent oak tree where, on a picture-perfect spring day, our teachers would take us outside to sit under as we did our reading assignments.

But on May 5, 1961, not long after the school bell rang, the entire school was brought to the cafeteria where a television was set up at one end, broadcasting a scratchy, black and white image.

Instead of the din that a school’s worth of kids could create when gathered in one place, it was mostly silent as we stared at the image of what reminded me of a candlestick sitting in the middle of nowhere while the newsmen chattered on about things that were far beyond the comprehension of a 9-year-old boy whose heroes at the time were anybody wearing a St. Louis Cardinals baseball uniform.

And, then it happened.

There was smoke and the roar of some kind of gigantic engine. There were gasps from the small crowd gathered at Cape Canaveral and excited exhortations from the newsies who understood the impact on history they were relating to the world as Alan Shepard became the first American to venture into space.

The memories are still vivid all these years later. So is the excitement, which is why I couldn’t help but be drawn to the coverage of the latest astronautical adventures.

Only this time, instead of well-decorated military pilots jammed into tiny tin cans for what had to be a most uncomfortable ride we had a couple of billionaires in comfy La-Z-Boys going for a joyride in some hopped-up hot rods they built in the garage.

My semi-adult brain can better process all of that as well as some rudimentary bits of science that surrounded the most recent launches.

But, the awe of leaving Earth’s bonds remains as strong as it did those 60 years ago.

And, I hope Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos, members of the Billionaire Boys Club, continue to reach for the stars. It reminds me of how we dedicated ourselves to eventually winning the space race with the Soviet Union and it inspires an old soul that you truly could build your own rocket ship and point it at the uncharted universe, something just about every kid my age dreamed about way back then.

There are many who think space exploration is a tremendous waste of public money, that we have some fairly pressing issues here on planet Earth that we should get after first. And, while I agree that we need to tidy up this blue rock we call home, it is also important to boldly go where no one has gone before.

We all know how humankind has benefitted from the space program through the decades – from the cameras on our cell phones to air purification systems, improvements and enhancements to artificial limbs, the new polymers used for firefighting equipment, health monitors, advanced materials used in our tires, technology used in making CAT scans, LED technology used in medicine, portable computers, and so much more. But, we have also found benefit in our human spirit through space travel. Our brains were designed to solve challenges, to create, to advance intellectually, mentally, and spiritually.

Branson and Bezos are among the wealthiest humans on the planet, amassing fortunes on ideas that once seemed unattainable. They persevered, though. They wanted to see what was around the next corner. They were not anchored in some static box, wasting away, they got after it and proved themselves not only to be doggedly determined, but brilliant at removing obstacles, learning from failure and building upon success.

They are like the millions of kids who, after seeing Shepard light up the sky, built their own spaceships in their backyards. While we remained Earthbound, we could close our eyes and explore the galaxy. So did these guys, except the spaceships they built really do fly and, someday, may make a visit to the moon more than a dream for so many. I mean, who wouldn’t like to take a look at Big Blue from outer space? And, they did it on their own dime.

The public lost a lot of its interest in the space program because it became mundane. It wasn’t as big of a deal when we landed on the moon in our final lunar mission in 1972 as it was when Shepard took off on that giant candle at Cape Canaveral in 1961. It was, sadly, business as usual. Politics was also to blame for waning interest in space exploration as the left complained that money was being drained from social programs and the right argued that the space program ate up military budgets. And while other nations ferry astronauts to the International Space Station, nobody has really picked up the charge to head back out into space until a couple of rich guys with big dreams stepped in.

Normally, I don’t give a whit about the moneyed folks who tend to spoil things, but I’ve got to hand it to Branson and Bezos for making us think about heading to the moon – or farther – again. There may not be a Soviet Union to compete with these days in a race into space and “because” may seem like an odd answer when people ask why we should do it, but we need Branson and Bezos and other brave entrepreneurs to remind us of just how much remains untouched, unseen, unfathomed.

We need dreamers.

We need heroes.

We need pioneers.

Look, at this particular time, we are trying to emerge from a cloud of death and disease. We need something to focus on, something to rally our flagging spirits, something to excite us, something to make us feel fresh, new, and relevant again.

So, saddle up, space cowboys, light that candle, and point it at the moon and beyond.

And, let’s fill those school kids with awe and wonder again as Shepard did all those years ago.

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