Rumi Nations

One can't be completely dispondant about the human condition as long as there are organizations like NASA in this world. Take a random moment in time like today and let's see what NASA is upto right now. Of course, Ares 1X was launched successfully on its first flight yesterday ... hopefully heralding a new era of manned exploration exploration of space. Shuttle Atlantis will be launched in November ... as we approach the end of the Shuttle Era. NASA also does fundamental science ... with the Great Observatories such as Hubble and Chandra. The Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has completed one year in space. It's doing spectacular science!

So, NASA was finally able to launch the first flight of Ares 1X today! Spectacular!!! And to think that this two and a half minute flight cost about half a billion dollars! Of course, it's future is still uncertain ... Primarily because of financial constraints ... Underscoring how challenging it is going to be for countries like India to launch manned missions to the Moon. Which explains why I take ISRO's confident predictions to that effect with a pinch of salt