Failure is Not an Option

[Aim to maim]

Tonight, (Saturday 28 January) the History Channel is scheduled to air a program entitled “Failure is Not an Option.” It’s an inspiring narrative of the role of NASA Mission Control during and after the Apollo moon landing program.

The program provides a detailed look at what a free, industrious and intelligent nation can do when it sets its collective will to a goal. In terms of national accomplishment, the “space race” was like the construction of the transcontinental railroad, the building of the Panama Canal and the Manhattan Project all rolled together in one vast endeavor.

Whether it was worth the expenditure of money and effort was and will continue to be argued by some, but it was an awesome manifestation of American can-do spirit and knowhow. I fear it may have been the final such effort.