It’s Time to Turn Our Eyes to The Sky and the Next Frontier

3/6/2024

A great many things have made America into a uniquely wonderful country in its short history. One of them, which others have written about in detail, is the embodiment of the frontiersman spirit constantly striving towards new undiscovered terrain. I am not speaking of the mythic image of the ‘Wild West’, although that Hollywood dressed image is one expression of the spirit. It is the pursuit of what’s over the horizon whether literally or metaphorically, of innovation, of seeking out new challenges, pursuing adventure, dreaming of bigger ideas.

There has been a concerted push that has dampened that spirit over the last several decades. We hear it all the time in various forms, so much so that it seeps in sometimes unnoticed, and we become accustomed to its presence. We seem to have forgotten the feeling of the American Spirit of Adventure, and we yearn for it. Some will say that there are no new frontiers left or that we have done so much damage in exploring and expanding that we should stop. Such notions, while connected to facts to varying degrees, are simply put, short-sighted and ultimately counterproductive.

The world was right in the 1960s to start looking towards the stars and reaching out to space. Now as commercial space flight begins to come within distance we see how greatly we have faltered since then. What once required taxpayer funding and courting the brightest minds and bravest souls to take on the challenges of space travel, is on track to become an area of employment for tens of thousands of people and an experience accessible to the common person possibly within our lifetimes.

I am reminded of one of my sets of grandparents who both grew up in rural Montana in the 1920’s and 1930’s. My grandfather told stories of their excitement when they would get to take a horse-drawn sleigh to the neighbor’s house for Christmas dinner several miles away. They saw the popularization and evolution of automobiles, commercial flights, household technology, and the moon landing.

Now here we are with the possibility of expanding into space, and stepping closer to the collective sci-fi dreams we have had manifest in movies and shows for decades. Yet there is little collective excitement and anticipation for the next launch by SpaceX, or the ongoing competition to develop space tourism between Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic. Instead we are stuck quibbling over counting the portion of people who do things based on skin color. With any luck, our children and grandchildren will discuss this period of time over coffee or cocktails in the lounge of a space hotel and joke about how utterly ridiculous and foolish we were all behaving.

I cannot help but wonder if we have forgotten how to dream together, to set our sights beyond the horizon and chase an unknown future with bright eyed aspiration and wonder. The last several thousand years of history have shown how new innovations and opportunities come with exploration and seeking new challenges. While there are those that keep pushing forward and are actively working on taking us to these new horizons it doesn’t seem that America as a whole is very interested or particularly excited about it. The first suggested search in Google for “billionaire space race” is “billionaire space race waste of money”, while it’s questionable these days whether that represents the most common organic search or not, it’s still notable. The results are a mix of opinion pieces defending the space race and those decrying it as wasteful, arrogant, a prime example of the excesses of capitalism, and bearing foreboding impacts on climate change.

What it is harder to find is an example of people really dreaming and wondering about the possibilities. A host of articles could ask the questions and speculate on when we will have the first public space station, which hotel chain will set up the first space hotel, will a moon base be next, what will be the best cocktail for space, will there be new space-based sports leagues, and many more questions. There are so many possibilities and wonderful unforeseen things that will come with expanding to the frontier beyond our planet. It is past time for America to turn our eyes back to the sky and start to dream and wonder.

About the Author

Shawnn Hartley

Editor

Shawnn holds a B.A. in Psychology and an M.A. in Sociology, bringing a strong interdisciplinary foundation to his work. His experience spans both the public and private sectors, where he has served as a policy, program, and data analyst and evaluator. He also has extensive experience and training in social services and mental health, informing a practical, data-driven approach to complex social and organizational challenges.

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