JayFublerHarvey.com

“Missed it by *that* much!”
-Maxwell Smart

Is it possible for men to have pre-natal regrets…those about themselves and not their children? One of mine would be missing out on the great space race. I was born a few years after Mr. Armstrong set foot on the moon and was too young to appreciate the Skylab & Apollo/Soyuz missions at the time.

My love of space came from reading up on the past NASA missions, watching the brand new Space Shuttle fly in the yonder, and enjoying fiction on the subject in a number of mediums (”The Right Stuff” and a slew of 70s sci-fi films immediately come to mind). While what I experienced was immensely influential and exciting, everything I’ve read about the cold war nature of the 60s space race leaves me wanting for a similar feeling of importance and excitement.

Fortunately, within the next ten to twenty years, we’ll all get a second shot at it. Enter the race for the first to back to the Moon and in conjunction, the first to the planet of Mars! China has stepped up their space program in leaps and bounds by becoming the third country to ever send it’s own citizens into space. They placed a satellite into orbit around the moon last year and have stated they foresee a manned mission in about 10 years. Soon after that announcement, the Bush administration announced NASA’s plans to return to Luna by 2020. Russia has also mentioned returning in roughly the same time frame. Welcome to our second space race, folks :)

While we’re waiting, we have brand new pictures and videos of the moon to enjoy. JAXA (The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency) has a satellite called KAGUYA (aka SELENE) orbiting the moon and taking the first High Definition pictures and video ever of our favorite satellite. For example:

I’d highly recommend taking a gander of the HD movies KAGUYA is taking…they’re quite breathtaking. A little taste of the glory that is to come. :)