Comparatively, there has been no recent event that rivaled the landing of the Pathfinder space probe on the planet Mars. Anyone with access to a television or the Internet had the ability to closely examine the terrain and even the weather conditions of the red planet on a daily basis. If Albert Einstein were alive to witness this marvelous project, he would probably be awestruck by this accomplishment. Yet, the media found this to be just another story in a summer of court trials, movie premiers and political scandals. The NASA Space Shuttle makes regular trips into space -- the Russian space station Mir orbits for months at a time -- NASA is planning to build a permanent space station -- an exploratory satellite leaves our solar system and enters territory that we can only dream of -- this is the space exploration program as we enter the next millennium. A dedicated core group of scientists and astronomers reach out into the Universe and continually ask the question "what is beyond what we know?" This may be the most important question of the next millennium, yet there are members of Congress who want to reduce funding for this type of scientific inquiry. It might be worth letting your member in the House or the Senate know how much this type of exploration means to the children of America and the world. Contact them at www.congress.gov. To get a look at another world, the planet Mars, visit the Pathfinder website at http://www.sun.com/mars/default.html.   | Home | Cultural | Environmental | Musical | Ordinary | | Contact Us | About the Authors | © Copyright 2007 fiftythings