I cried on July 8, 2011, when the Space Shuttle Atlantis launched as the final mission of the Space Shuttle Program. I kept wondering why it had to come to an end and how things had gotten to a point where funding missions to space just wasn’t that important. What happened? How can we change it?
Paul Hildebrandt has just launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund his documentary, Fight For Space: Exploring the Future of Manned Spaceflight, which will answer those questions. It will look at how the United States space program lost its edge and why it’s so very important that we get it back.
Hildebrandt has already spent time travelling the country to meet with some notable advocates of space exploration. Neil deGrasse Tyson, Bill Nye, astronaut Leroy Chiao, as well as astronomers, congressmen, engineers, and authors will all be included in the final documentary. They appear in the trailer and it’s hard not to get all fired up listening to them speak.
The goal here is not to solve the problem, but to start a discussion. There are complex social, political, and economic factors that each play a role in where our space program is today, and only by understanding them can we hope to have the program rebound and inspire future generations. It’s a difficult but not impossible task to excite children about the possibilities of space exploration as the whole nation was when Neil Armstrong first set foot on the moon.
If you’re passionate about space exploration and long for the day when we travel beyond the moon to Mars, then head over to the Fight For Space Kickstarter page to learn more, donate, and make this valuable documentary a reality.*
**I interviewed Paul Hildebrandt on the latest GeekMoms Podcast and he talked about his hopes for the film. Download the episode and hear what he had to say.**
