The next giant leap

I was born too late to see humans set foot on the moon. But if NASA's new Constellation program works out, in just 10 years, my children and I may be able to see this amazing event happen once again.

This week marks the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to set foot on another world. Over the next few years a total of six manned Apollo spacecraft landed on the moon. In December of 1972, the last Apollo mission carried a geologist, the only scientist-astronaut to walk on the moon. For the past 35 years, no human has left Earth orbit.

I was born in September of 1973, after the Apollo moon landings were all finished. No one has set foot on another world in my lifetime. I grew up as a fan of space exploration in a world alive with the echoes of Apollo. As kids, my friends and I watched tapes of the moon landings and played Apollo ourselves. I watched the first shuttle launch with my parents, and I always cheered these missions, although shuttles only go up about 200 miles above the Earth. I wondered why we couldn't go farther anymore.

However, I soon realized that the important science and exploration that NASA was doing wasn't on the shuttle. The real exploration, the great discoveries of the past 35 years have come from NASA's unmanned missions, from our robotic spacecraft that have set sail across our solar system and discovered new worlds. The Voyager probes explored Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, taking pictures and finding things that no one dreamed possible. Missions to Mars first showed the red planet to be a barren, frozen desert, but now are giving us tantalizing hints that perhaps there may yet be simple life hanging on, deep under the Martian surface. The mighty Hubble Space Telescope has revolutionized our understanding of stars, galaxies and the universe as a whole.

For the past 35 years, our great explorers have not been astronauts. Our great explorers have sat behind desks at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the Goddard Space Flight Center, using computers and radio signals to steer our robotic probes as they navigate the stars. This is where the science is and where the great discoveries have been made.

Science and discovery by remote control is wonderful and amazing. However nothing can compare with the thrill that comes from knowing that a fellow human being is really out there, personally. NASA plans to retire the shuttle next year and to devote its resources to the new Constellation Program, a whole new generation of rockets and spacecraft. If all goes according to plan, Constellation rockets will send Americans back to space in 2014, and then send us to the moon in 2019. The idea is that Constellation could support the establishment of a long-term base on the moon, or perhaps even send us to Mars.

It's time. I want to see a human set foot on the moon in my lifetime. More importantly, I want my children to see this. In 2019 my daughter will be 13 and my son will be 10. I can't imagine more perfect ages. I hope they'll be old enough to understand what this means, but young enough for this sight to be deeply imprinted into their souls. I want them to be thrilled. I want them to be inspired. I want to sit with them in our living room and watch another great leap for mankind.