The retreat from space:

http://crooksandliars.com/nonn...asa-way-poke-ourselv

Reminds me of the Martian Chronicles, where (nearly) all the colonists return to Earth (just in time for the Earth to implode).

And then there's this (which references Ray):

http://www.utne.com/2006-11-01...ForgottenDreams.aspx

Phil, it truly is sad.

Carl Sagan said in "Cosmos": "Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere."

For me growing up and watching the first Moon Landing, life seemed full of possiblities. My imagination soared and my love for SF and Ray Bradbury was sparked. It seemed we could go anywhere in the Universe. Forty years later, we are going nowhere because we lack imagination.

Attached is an image titled "Reach for the Stars". Hopefully, we will be able to inspire our kids to do so despite efforts by narrow-minded governments to suppress our imagination.Reach for the Stars

Nice image!

I'm currently immersed in research into Bradbury's writing from c.1957-64. I'm struck by how there is a distinct optimism in it which is directly inspired by the reality of the "space age". It's an optimism he never really lost - but it is distinctly different from the more pessimistic attitudes to science and technology he was showing in the immediate post-war years.

Like you, bytorbass, I was a child of that "space age". It's much easier for kids to dream and dream big when there are astonishing achievements being attained in front of them.

I watch "2001, A Space Odyssey" with a sort of nostalgia for what might have been.

2001 is an excellent case in point. Although it has some wildly fantastical elements at the heart of it, its technology is extrapolated from what was actual at the time. The spectacle on display was something we could recognise, imagine and aspire to.

We rarely see that in SF, sci-fi or skiffy films today, where the spectacle is all about "wow that was awesome. You'd never see anything like that in the real world."

PS: further to Braling's point: I find it funny that I have to explain to students that "Pan-Am" was not a made up logo for the film, but was an actual, everyday, run-of-the-mill airline.

Phil, it's interesting how you relate Bradbury's optimism to the "space age". I believe you're right. When I reread some of those stories, I'll pay closer attention.

The collections, "R is for Rocket" and "S is for Space", were published around the time you are researching. Those were the first Bradbury books I read, and I read them at around the time of the Apollo missions. Though not all the stories are about "space", my immediate association when I see those books is the optimism, promise, and dream of the "space age". My school library had the original additions, with the Mugnaini covers. The Apollo missions, the Bradbury stories, and Mugnaini covers are all fused together in my mind as a single thought/image of hope, possibility, and optimism.

Indeed...No more little kids dreaming dreams of sparkling stars for which to reach. Or children purposefully blocking out teachers' voices in lieu of thoughts of rockets taking them to distance places in infinite night skies.

It all seems rather Orwellian and Bradburian, as a dystopian world society takes root. Our Rocketmen and Rocketwomen have been forced into the unemployment line. This, all in name of current ideologues who intend to obliterate such wanderings by wonderful Romany. Once gone, they will never be seen or heard from again...

What next, the BOOKS!?

http://farm5.static.flickr.com...10178_f04a769c9e.jpg
http://farm5.static.flickr.com...43251_dafe94a51a.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com...24011_58474f1a61.jpg

bytorbass, good observation about R is for Rocket and S is for Space. Of course, those volumes were compilation volumes, and specifically drawn together (I understand) for younger readers, so there may be other influences on their balance of optimism and pessimism.

I'm currently looking at Bradbury's development of MARTIAN CHRONICLES for screen, which he started on in the mid '50s. The MC novel involves an atomic war, and ends with a bittersweet 'inheritance' of Mars by a handful of survivors from Earth. The screenplays, however, written a decade later, tend to end with a "live forever!" section where humankind moves out from Earth, beyond Mars to the stars. Bradbury has been espousing this as a real-life philosophy ever since!

Interesting blog about NASA, the space program, and American economics/politics. Several references to Ray Bradbury.

older and less viable

Enjoy this simply beautiful and poetic event which occurred this morning. Mr. Bradbury should be proud of the inspiration he nurtured in so many of our space pioneers!

"Peace" and "Thank You" to all of the men and women of NASA. I closely followed the Shuttle Program since its inception (as well as the earliest years of Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo). Let us all hope the comments that close this news clip are taken to heart by the powers to be...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...jchU&feature=related

Of all the people! Certainly it is a sign of the end times when Newt Gingrich has more farsighted ambitions than Barack Obama (plus, both have futuristic names.) http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com...-moon-colony-by-2020

Here's another option for the US Space Program, now stuck in the doldrums!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9h0MNMfKuQ