One Small Step

“Don't tell me that man doesn't belong out there. Man belongs wherever he wants to go--and he'll do plenty well when he gets there” --Wernher von Braun

As we remember the 50 years since the Apollo project, we recall Neil Armstrong's famous declaration, "It's one small step for [a] man, a giant leap for mankind". Of course Armstrong was thinking of the little step from the foot pad of the Lunar Module onto the surface of the moon compared to the massive technological effort that got him there. 400,000 people working for the previous eight years to reach that singular goal. It remains one of the most important technological achievements of all time.

Yet, compared to what awaits us, if we choose it, the entire Apollo program itself is the "one small step." Our next goal in human spaceflight is undoubtedly Mars. Compared to the moon, it will be orders of magnitude more difficult to reach. Whereas the moon is three days away, the voyage to Mars will take months. The challenges will be immense.

But even Mars is merely the next "small step" as we venture ever further out into space. Why do it? Because just as the earth is, the universe and all that we can see is part of our environment. It is our destiny to journey to it, study it and perhaps settle it. If we can see it, then we can reach it.

So as we contemplate the next 50 years in space, we should be humbled by the fact that we are so small in the vastness of the universe, and yet we have been given vision for its attainment. 

"When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,

The moon and the stars, which You have ordained,

What is man that You are mindful of him?"