I cannot help it. Space missions fill me with joy and hope.
I know all the things. No one has to remind me. But when I was fourteen, and my mothers long, slow death had made me want to die, and the world seemed filled with nothing but hate, a man walked on the moon, and I felt wonder, and thought maybe I’d hang around to see how it turned out.
These last few years have been so hard. The world is filled with such hate. It’s on full display today, even toward these people who did a new thing, one that even let a woman older than I look back and see us as one thing, one fragile thing that needs its people to unite. But no matter what other things these individuals do, or what people want from them, human beings are still reaching out.
For me, that’s still good reason to stick around as long as I can, to see what happens next.
= new reply since forum marked as read
The questions by the audience says we are not the only ones encourged & curious as to how it came together & where it may lead.
Totally inspiring & enjoyable morning 👍
Interesting hearing Mr Bezos describe his purpose in this mission.
Bravo...
but "you be you" as well.
Branson and Bezos didn't discover anything that isnt already known, with the possible exception of how much money billionaires can waste to massage their egos.
We all have our opinions, and I'm sure you know the rest of that old adage. 
with what was then Grumman (now Northrop-Grumman) back in the '60s through to the current time.
There weren't some pile of GS-12s sitting in there designing and constructing spacecraft without some non-government involvement. The NASA staff were project managers and engineers working with "private" entities for engineering and construction of multiple vehicles, scientific instruments that could be used in space, and other equipment.
https://www.northropgrumman.com/space/space-legacy/
Even today, NG is one the largest government contractors, including involved with NASA projects.
James Bernstein July 16, 2019
Astronaut Edwin E."Buzz" Aldrin Jr., Lunar Module pilot, is photographed during the Apollo 11 extravehicular activity on the Moon on July 20, 1969. (Photo by Neil Armstrong/NASA Photo)
The vehicle that took a dozen U.S. astronauts to the moon starting a half-century ago would not meet anyone’s definition of beauty: It looked like a giant grasshopper with bugged-out eyes and spindly legs. But the Apollo Lunar Module, also known as the Apollo Lunar Lander, was arguably the most remarkable vehicle ever built, one that brought glory not only to its manufacturer, Grumman Aerospace Corporation of Bethpage, but to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and to the United States. The nearly 10-year project to build the LM was among Grumman’s proudest efforts, and the centerpiece of the company’s contribution to America’s space effort.
For the country, the Moon program — NASA called it Project Apollo — began on May 25, 1961, when President John F. Kennedy proposed before Congress that the U.S. “should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to Earth.” Those LM days are now taking focus again in the minds of Grummies, as they called themselves, as the anniversary of the first Moon landing in 1969 approaches.
Throughout July, celebrations are scheduled across the country to commemorate one of the most memorable days in world history. Several events are to be held at the Cradle of Aviation Museum in Garden City, which on July 20 will hold an “Apollo at 50 Countdown Celebration,” including a screening of Neil Armstrong’s first steps on the Moon.
Grummies are delighted to recall those days. “Everybody was enthusiastic,” says Mike Lisa, now 76, of Hicksville, who was an LM environmental test engineer. “Our job was to put guys on the Moon, and that’s what we did.” The work became all consuming at a company accustomed to work and pressure. Grumman signed a $2 billion contract — enormous at the time — with NASA in 1962. “We didn’t know anything about a clock,” says Sam Koepel, now 90, of Floral Park, who wrote and edited LM specifications. “We did everything exactly when the company needed it done.”
https://www.longislandpress.com/2019/07/16/long-islanders-recall-leading-role-in-moon-landing/
just more ego masturbation. They've run out of things to buy and destroy here on earth, so they're moving on to a different venue.
I guess solving hunger, global warming etc. wouldn't give them the same thrill, huh? 
I'm through with this inane dispute. If you feel the need to continue, have at it. 
1/2 your age back then.... 
But I had a dad who just a few years earlier had taken me outside one night, pointed up to the star configuration that forms the Big Dipper, then brought me back inside to the kitchen, opened a drawer, pulled out a metal dipper, and said "This fell out of the sky".
This was me -- 
And that did it for a lifetime. 
I know I got my thread shit all over and when looking for something else in a search, I discovered another billionaire I had forgotten about - M$'s former co-founder Paul Allen (now deceased) - who funded a whole radiotelescope array for SETI, and his philathropies have apparently partnered with NOAA to deploy ocean instruments to monitor the ocean conditions, which inturn impact the global weather patterns. And before Musk, Branson, and Bezos, Allen had been involved in SpaceShipOne (which launched 17 years ago) -
So the 3 more recent billionaires actually followed the footsteps of billionaire Allen for the "commercial" spacecraft that have been deployed recently.
IMHO, as exploitative as all of them have been, when compared to the Kochs and Mercers and Waltons, who have spent and continue to spend, hundreds of millions to "own the libs", any in that class who have actually put money into some STEM venture, distinguishes them from the RW ilk.
I was on a work trip (I am a retired fed) where a bunch of my coworkers nationwide had a meeting in Texas. And at the end of that week, those of us staying over that Friday night to leave Saturday morning, drove up to Houston that Friday afternoon to visit the Johnson Space Center. And had it not been for the fact that a shuttle had actually been deployed and was doing a mission, we would have gone on the tour inside Mission Control (access was closed). But the Visitor's Center/museum and grounds were fantastic and even being able to see the little monitors they had around showing the shuttle activities, really made the trip enjoyable (given it was like 96 degrees and a million degrees humidity outside but cool inside).
I know since then, there have been many vehicles brought there for display and the facility has been renovated. But it was still a thrill to be at the location where the "heartbeat" of the space program resided.
was that they had some monitors that were running a loop of the trailer for the movie "Twister" that had just come out around the time we were there. And as a weather hobbyist, it was icing on the cake to see that someone was actually releasing what would be a blockbuster weather-related movie (that eventually became my favorite for the subject).
Since we were only there a couple hours and the place closed at 6, we opted to go to one of their films being shown in the IMAX theater at the complex. It was my first time in one and boy oh boy. I forgot what documentary thing they showed but being up close and personal with that huge screen was wild. They have since renovated and upgraded that too.
