There were just too many people involved in the exploration of space - and not only people. Austronauts, engineers, scientists - hundreeds and thousands. And not only the well-known ones. There are a lot of people we never heard about.
It's in the nature of the people to be superficial. We all celebrate Yuri Gagarin and Neil Armstrong, yet we forget many other people, who have dedicated their lives to making it possible for us to remember these two brave men.
In the end, while some of us are impressed by cunning, creativity and knowledge, most of us are impressed by bravery, power...
Quote:[...] We all celebrate Yuri Gagarin and Neil Armstrong, yet we forget many other people [...]
Great, I've almost forgotten about Mr. Armstrong ... I tried to remember the second man on the moon for that long (Buzz Aldrin:P) that I erased the memory of him ^^
Anyway, it's sad that space exploration is not that much of a concern for the states who can afford it. If the US or the Soviets could've continued their efforts in this important scientific/economic sector there might've been footsteps on the Mars in a few years ^^
There was no political interest to continue the pursuit of space supremacy. The entire race into space was about who will be first to build a powerful and reliable enough rocket to put the BOMB in orbit, allowing them to target any place on Terra.
After that, when the USSR proved that they have build a successful rocket and reentry vehicle for the bomb (Yuri Gagarin's flight) the US had to prove they can do that to, so, Alan Shepard.
After that, the only thing left was to either commit the entire planet and all it's resources to space exploration, thereby unifying us all, or stepping back to the ground and keeping it where we are now.
The entire US effort to get to the Moon before the Soviets was a face saving gesture to buff the morale of it's citizens. Personally, I consider all those achievements very great, and am impressed by the people who put a lot of effort into them, but the fact is they aren't much known. Compare that fact with the amount of information average Joe has on Michael Jordan, and you realise on what level of social maturity is the human race on average.
And since it was unprofitable to explore space further, we now don't have the scenes from late Mr Clarke's books.
Also, I give you the loneliest man in the Universe. While his friends were stomping on the Moon, Mr Collins was in the orbiter, going behind the damn thing, all alone, obviously without any radio contact with either Terra, or Moon expedition. Hence, the loneliest man... and also it seems that rarely anyone remembers him now.
Also, I would like to have an opportunity to touch the External fuel tank of the Space Shuttle while it's standing on it's launch platform, but I doubt that I'd ever get the chance.
It was still a great day for humanity, and one of our greatest accomplishments. It's a shame that space exploration was just another front for the pointless pissing contests by the inflated egos in both the US and Soviet Union. Imagine what could've been accomplished if they had left the idiocy behind and cooperated in building the future.
If the US and USSR hadnt been "fighting" in the Cold War, and had been allies, probably Yuri woulda had an American with him and the Russians woulda stepped down with Armstrong.
But, sadly, all the BS that happened throughout history kept us apart (and still are apart).