Going shopping at IKEA is the first thought that came to mind when friend told me that tomorrow was “Space Day.” Apartment is tight, with one bedroom, three cats and even a skinny wife. We can always use more space I thought. Add all the papers, books and videos all around, almost as bad a habit as my father, and more space sounds like a great idea. But, it’s not that type of space, but the outer-space that the United Nations is observing, or more accurately the International Day of Human Space Mission. Question is why don’t we think and dream of outer-space exploration as we did a few decades earlier. It was not only the time of the Sputnik and Mercury and Apollo Missions, but space travel captured our popular culture – “Dark Side of the Moon” and “Major Toms” in music and how about “Star Trek,” “Star Wars” and “Space Odyssey 2001.” From Horse to Rocket Ship Well, the year 2001 went and came, and we’re no where close to reaching Mars, not to mention mining some asteroid around Jupiter – (the big gas planet giant itself cannot be mined). The reality of space travel is probably a bit more scientifically complex than we thought, but my guess is that we have lost our vision for it and priority. We went from horses to man landing on the man in less than a century. How is it that we can’t go by rocket ship beyond the moon to Mars? Maybe I’m wrong, but I would think we covered the most unknown in the decade from when we sent a dog to space to when humans followed in the 1960’s finally landing on the moon - July 20, 1969. What Priorities? Is it about the money and economics? We always bitch about not enough money, and the question is how we prioritize. Maybe we have focused more of our resources about exploring the earth, oceans or even our bodies. However, it was frequently experiments that could only be justified in the context of space exploration that led to advances from medicine and nutrition to communications and earth-bound transportation. Maybe we have spent the energy on technology and computers – the most common reference to the film “Space Odyssey” today is to “Hal” the ego conscious computer. However, don’t technology and space travel go hand in hand – each facilitating the other? Ending Wars & the Cold War Is it about war and chaotic foreign policy relations? The 1950’s and 60’s were even more chaotic and less friendly. The 1940’s hold the record for conflict and killing. Perhaps though it was the arms race and risk of conflict that spurred us to reach space? That’s plausible, but all the visions of futuristic space travel also project mankind unified tackling the unknown. Perhaps I’m too idealistic but in the challenge of John F. Kennedy to reach the moon, I saw it beyond a race with the Soviet Union but also a goal for all mankind. Anyway, the problem may be one of imagination in what we can achieve as human beings and what we can do as mankind working together. Reaching the moon may have come as an objective of the US in competition with the Soviets, but the result was a definite perspective that ultimately overcame animosity. Ironically. It was the Russian Federation that proposed an International Day of Human Space Mission. The Soviets may have lost the race to the moon, but could it be that they have both a more historical perspective on mankind’s destiny and a vivid imagination. For a country like the United States where opportunity and reality followed imagination, it may be a troubling sign. Regardless, thank you Russia for reminding me that space means out there - rather than IKEA space savers inside my apartment - and of what mankind should be able to dream and achieve, especially if working together. See our Film Report on “Space Day” at United Nations - diplomaticallyincorrect.org/films/movie/space-day/26174 By Ambassador Muhamed Sacirbey Face Book find us at “Diplomatically Incorrect” Twitter – DiplomaticallyX