I grew up with the space program. It was incredibly inspiring!
In elementary school, we had assemblies each time the Mercury and Gemini spacecraft blasted off. As the 10-second countdown began, all of us kids shouted out the countdown and cheered when the rocket took off.
The Gemini capsule is still my favorite of all spacecraft. It was designed like a sports car and it had gull-wing hatches that inspired the DeLorean, (I believe). Additionally, the Gemini program was exceedingly risky because all of the techniques needed for a trip to the Moon and back were tested for the first times. Those included getting into orbit, building spacesuits for extra-vehicular activities, rendezvous of two spacecraft and docking them as well as preparing for long-duration spaceflight, (it takes two weeks to fly to the Moon and back). Here's a great clip from the Tom Hanks/HBO mini-series detailing the first decade of the NASA program, "From the Earth to the Moon." In the second half of the clip, the problems of getting humans to the moon are outlined succinctly.
When Apollo 11 landed on the moon, our family was joined by by two of our neighbors' families and we all stayed up to watch the first man walk on the moon. It was one of the most thrilling moments of my young life! I read every book I could find about space and rockets and especially about the astronauts.
Skylab was a bit of a disappointment after the moon landing. Why weren't we getting ready for the next step: Mars? The shuttles were kind of cool but they were tasked with so many conflicting missions that they became flying bricks. Besides, they could only achieve lower orbits. And the two major accidents...
NASA needs a big and exciting new mission along with the support of the president and Congress not to mention the American people. The universe is unbelievably big and old. We need to get out there!
ETA: Thanks for posting the clip, demmiblue.! It brought back some great memories!
2nd ETA: If anyone is interested in NASA, I highly recommend "From the Earth to the Moon." It's dramatic, informative, historically accurate with terrific special effects (the first Moon landing is amazing) and great casting and music.
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