Curiosity

I find it very odd the buzz about NASA’s Curiosity Rover.  Growing up, I discovered my love for space after watching Apollo 13 and realizing that it was based on a true story.  It peaked my curiosity and since that day, I researched and read everything there was to know about NASA and manned missions, and I secretly dreamed of becoming an astronaut.  I love the thrill and excitement associated with man exploring the unknown.  Naturally, when the program officially ended this past year, I was crushed, not just for myself (though my “dream” of becoming an astronaut was just that, a “dream”), but my for my kids, who will one day want to know why they can’t be an astronaut, or maybe even what an astronaut is.  There is something so nostalgic about a time period that I can only truly be immersed in through old footage and history books, and I want that for my children one day.  But for them, it will be a different history.  They will read about technology allowing humans to create instruments that explore the unknown, rather than humans themselves, or so that is my fear.  Will NASA ever be what it once was?  I hope so, because in a world where we once sent man to the moon via the intelligence, cooperation, and thirst for human exploration by NASA engineers and the public, surely we have the capability and capacity to do the same for the red planet.  I hope to see the day that man walks on Mars, and I hope my children are right there watching it with me.