Long Term Prospects for Developments in Space (1977)

[Jonfliesgoats]

It's easy to get pessimistic when we consider where we think we should be versus where we are in terms of space exploration and exploitation.  This document from 1977 should dispel some of that pessimism.

While we are not as developed as an optimistic scenario would have had us, we have outperformed pessimistic scenarios.  We are roughly in line with or marginally ahead or behind the moderate scenario forecast by big, NASA brains before I was born.

So its R okay to be frustrated.  We are certainly missing some opportunities.  Still we keep moving forward, and Humanity's skyward expansion continues.

Here's the 1977 document:

http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/b310563.pdf

[Emperor of the Titan Squid]

If we can, let's try and make a Utopian -Far-Out scenario.Tomorrland here we kome!

[TheSaint]

I think I get more frustrated with the folks who, the minute an obstacle becomes apparent, just lay down in the middle of the road and wail, "That's it! We're never going to get there! Eeevvveeerrr!!!"

[Jonfliesgoats]

Well, to be fair to those folks I have had those thoughts too.  I think we suffer, as a group, from the same inner doubts that plague us as individuals.  It's easy to let those doubts run away with us.

When I look back at my career us far, I can legitimately say I have done a lot of pretty cool stuff.  It doesn't feel that way, though.  I always feel like I am loafing a little too much.  The fact that I even mention myself in these threads highlights a sliver of inner doubt.  I feel like a happy slacker, but a slacker nonetheless.  A look back at actual facts dusts the drama off that self-evaluation for me.  

I think the same thing goes on with us as a group.  We, collectively feel like we are retreating from space and on the verge of losing something great as a nation and as a species.  As a group, perhaps we all have similar doubts?  A little doubt in this regard sends us skyward.  Too much causes us to roam the halls of the internet bawling, give up on manned spaceflight altogether, etc.  Compared to what smart folks thought we'd be doing in 1977, we're not faltering.  It can feel that way, though.  

I guess I am trying to say we should try to reform pessimists rather than dismiss them.  We do this for ourselves regularly.  we should extend the courtesy to others.