The profound promise of a new space race

Despite the horrors, we live in the most exciting time in human history.

Despite the horrors, we live in the most exciting time in human history.

The only other time I wish I was alive is 1969, when America won the space race

My dad, 75 now, remembers school stopping and all the kids coming out of class to listen to the radio. He says it's one of the most vivid memories of his life.

And he always seems wistful when talking about it, musing that everyone alive then expected us to be on Mars within the decade. If we were on the Moon by 1969, surely we'd be on Jupiter by 2025?

But we stopped going to the Moon in 1972. Budgets were slashed, and government attention was turned elsewhere. We quite literally stopped shooting for the stars.