Where Was the Celebration?

By guest author Guy Heston --

In this summer of our discontent (inflation, a new COVID variant, messed up airline schedules, etc.) I thought we actually had a great cause for optimism and celebration but didn’t take it.

On July 11 the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, better known to us as NASA, and in cooperation with the European and Canadian space agencies, sent back the most incredible images from the James Webb Space Telescope.

The images of galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 were stunning, incredible glimpses into the universe in which we reside. The White House hosted an event to unveil them. Some of the images from distant galaxies were reportedly from 4.6 billion years ago (I’ll leave it to the scientists to determine how that was figured out). You can find the images at nasa.gov.

To me this event was right up there with the USA landing Neil Armstrong, Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin and Michael Collins for the famous July 20, 1969, Apollo 11 moonwalk. It was another giant leap for mankind, viewing the awesome images from the giant mirrored observatory, and with more to come.

I can still remember sitting in our family living room watching the grainy television coverage of the Apollo 11 moonwalk, which you can also find at nasa.gov. It was a moment of great national pride and a cause for celebration. As a nation we held our heads high.

So where was the celebration with these awesome images of our universe? The mainstream media such as the New York Times and Washington Post provided the obligatory coverage and pictures, but from my perspective the coverage was more or less dropped after a couple of days and the top headlines were back to the January 6 hearings, inflation, gas prices and such. The galaxy pictures seemed like a meh moment. (I had to look this one up, too. -- ed.)

As far as I was concerned the images from the observatory were cause for a national party and dancing in the streets to celebrate what we are still capable of if we put our minds and dollars to it. Alas, if I am reading the room correctly, we are apparently not in the mood for a national party. Drat.

I made reference earlier to the July 20, 1969, moonwalk. That isn’t the only anniversary worth mentioning. On that same day in 1976 the Viking 1 landed on Mars and we were treated to wonderful images of our solar system neighbor.

We have many reasons in this summer of discontent to look down and out. Thanks to NASA for showing us how to still look up and out. Let’s celebrate!

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