from the very old and the handicapped. It is impossible to be a fan of my fiction
and not be enthusiastic for space travel. Besides, they tell me so, explicitly, in
writing.
“Examples:
“A college professor, blind from birth. He’s never seen the the stars; he’s
never seen the Moon. The books he reads and rereads-has read to him by his
secretary-are about space travel. He went to a lot of trouble to look me up. . . to
discuss our space program.
“A teen-age boy, tied to a wheelchair, who wrote to ask me whether or not he
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could become an astronautical engineer-some ‘friend’ had told him that it was a
silly ambition for a cripple. I assured him that an engineer did not need legs even
on Earth surface, advised him in what courses to take, and referred him to a story
by Arthur C. Clarke in which a double amputee, both legs, commands a space station.
“A housewife with epilepsy, grand mal, who doesn’t expect ever to be able to
go out into space. . . but finds her greatest interest in life, her major relief
from the tedious routine she must follow, in our space program.
“Avery large number of elderly people who wrote to me immediately after the
first landing on the Moon,
all saying, in effect, that they thanked the Lord that they had been spared long
enough to see this great day.
“I could add examples endlessly. Just let me state flatly that my files hold
proof that the aged retired, the shut-ins and the disabled of all ages get more
spiritual lift out of space flight than does any other definable group of our
citizens. For many of them the television screen is their only window on the world;
something great and shining and wonderful went out of their lives when the Apollo
Moon program ended.
“Even if a space program had no other spinoff, isn’t that sort worth 5~ a
day?”
AFTERWORD
Later: No, to most citizens of the United States the entire space program
plus all its spinoffs is not worth even 5~ per day; the polls (and letters to
Congress) plainly show it. And they won’t believe that 5ç~ figure even if you do the
arithmetic right in front of their eyes. They will still think of it as “all that
money” being “wasted” on “a few rocks.”
It is easy to prove that the space program paid for itself several times
over in terms of increased gross national product. . . and in new technology. . .
and in saved lives. But they won’t believe any of that, either.
NASA has two remarkable records: first, a space program far more successful
than anyone had dared hope; and, second, the most incredibly bumbling, stupid, inept
public relations of any government agency.
A Congressman’s counsel pointed out to me that NASA and other government
agencies were by law not perm itted to advertise themselves. Oh, come off it!-it
does not matter whether a man is called a “public information aide” or a flack; a
press agent defines himself by what he does. The man who was NASA’s boss flack all
during the Moon program had the endearing manners of Dennis the Menace. He’s gone
now-but the damage he did lives on, while our space program is dying.
Still… if you aren’t willing to give up and start studying Mandarin or
possibly Japanese, you can write to your congressman and to both your senators and
tell them how you feel about it. If you do, send copies to Don Fuqua (Democrat,
Lower House) and to Barry Goldwater, Sr. (Republican, Upper House). A strong space
program has many friends in both parties and in both houses- but it is necessary to
let them know that they have friends.
FOREWORD
One would think that a “prophet” unable to score higher than 66% after 30
years have elapsed on 50-year predictions would have the humility (or the caution)
to refrain from repeating his folly. But I’ve never been very humble, and the motto
of my prime vocation has always been: “L’audace! Toujours l’audace!”
So the culprit returns to his crime. Or see PROVERBS XXVI, 11. And hang on