Where is the adventure gone? On an increasingly crowded earth there are no more white spots on the map. Everything is explored. Can man take this state of completion? Doesn’t he need an out of the everyday order to stay active and alert? Where can we go to explore?
Space is the last unknown. And, as it happens, it’s almost all of the world except earth. We had been very active in space exploration in the sixties and seventies. But then…
Since Apollo 17 landed on December 11 1972 and departed three days later we have not been to the moon. For 44 years no man has left earth orbit. After the euphoria of the moon landings not only Science Fiction authors were expecting a landing on the Mars soon, and manned expeditions to explore the solar system, and beyond.
We seem to have withdrawn into an everyday life. Smartphones and apps and video games, this is really supposed to excite us? To keep us fresh, alert, probing, creative? What looks more like an entertainment program for a prison population than for an active breed of forwards looking people has become a replacement for adventure.
Silicone valley doesn’t invent anything from further reaching interest. Sorry, Uber and Whatsapp and Facebook don’t cut it. Looks like we don’t need a Silicone valley. We need a a rocket valley.
This exhibition is dedicated to the exploration of space, to new limits to be reached, new borders to be set and crossed. To a strong breed who puts their body where their mind is aiming. Once, there won’t be Voyagers and other space toys flying through the solar system: astronauts will take the risk and inspire a whole planet that ran out of inspiration a long time ago and is just short of going crazy and destroying itself.
Let’s start with the budget. Nasa has an annual budget of 18 Billion dollars, which is a joke measured at the importance of this agency’s task. Is it only about 0.5% of the federal budget. For comparison, in 1969, the year of the moon landing, the Nasa budget was 1.92%, and in 1966, preparing for the moon landing it was an incredible 4.41% of the federal budget – nine times the budget of today.
So let’s go past those accountants, and let the scientists, the explorers, the daredevils, the visionaries speak. How about a 162 billion dollar Nasa budget? Don’t you think this will cause a surge in all related technology? And let’s not listen to those marketing gurus who seem to be the loudest today, let’s listen to the intelligent and educated, the scientists and artists who truly have a vision of the future.
Did you know solar technology, like many others, was a direct result of space technology? There are so many secrets we still can discover in nature and use it for an advanced mankind. But we need to put our efforts there, too, and without proper budgeting there will be no future. Not even a decent present.
Once there was the image of the USA that everybody looked up to. It was where the space exploration happened, those heroic astronauts and scientists who pushed our boundaries and who were admired by the whole world. Let’s put a new chapter to this, let’s put our feet and our head towards a great future – it will also mean a greater present.
“Going Into Space” Fine art photography exhibition by Robert Wilde at the Soho Gallery. Opening today, May 7th 6 – 9 PM 9893 S. Santa Monica Boulevard, Beverly Hills CA 90212.
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