Musings 73--Breathing on the moon...

The world is an extremely complicated place these days. In an effort to make everyone feel better, I have taken it upon myself to search for a "feel good" story. I think I found it.

There is oxygen on the moon!! That's right, the moon!

It seems that a certain type of rock can be blasted apart to get breathable oxygen, and such rocks exist on the moon. Now that is just a really neato thing. (See link) One of the big things about setting up housekeeping on the moon was the lack of breathable air--oxygen. We had to pack it with us. Now, it seems, we would just have to "distill" it.

When I was in high school, the hot topic was the space race. Who would get to the lunar surface first, us or the dastardly Russians. Well, as we all know, the Russians made it to space first, but the U. S. A. made it to the moon--not once but several times.

After we had wandered around the moon's surface for a bit, we decided to not go there again. Why we did this is anyone's best guess. I think it had something to do with money. If that was the case, we then came up with the space shuttle which proved to be cost effective---to the tune of billions upon billions of dollars unto this very day.

Suddenly, there is interest in space again. Thus, maybe another mission to the moon is in order. Maybe those pesky Chinese guys who launched their first manned orbital mission had something to do with it. Whatever the reason, space appears to be making a comeback, and it is long overdue.

The politics here at home gets wearisome. The mind turns to mush with lumps. Space, however, gets the mind to soar (no pun intended) again. I remember being exceedingly excited during those early days of space exploration. It is hard to believe that there is an entire generation of young adults (those under 30) who have not experienced this excitement. We need to fly to the moon again. The sooner the better.

Oxygen already on the moon. Who would have believed it?