Changing Role for Engineers

Glass’ column struck a chord in my being. Like Glass I was born in 1951. And, like Glass I too am an engineer. Although I do not design rocket engines, the space program did indeed inspire me to a life of engineering.

Glass is absolutely correct when he says that we, as a nation, have turned away from an active and demanding space program. Our original moon rockets have been destroyed, torn apart and placed in museums. We no longer have the ability to land a man on the moon.

The visions of Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, and Robert Heinlein were not lost on people like Glass and myself. They have, however, been lost on our children. Regaining that inspiration is as simple and difficult as walking on Mars.

It is long past the time to replan our trip to Mars. Wernher von Braun, the father of the American space program, planned the first landing for 1984. We won’t be there in 1994. We could be there in 2004. Walking and exploring the valleys, craters, and poles of our planetary neighbor would inspire many children toward careers in science and engineering. It could lift our spirits, as a society, and as a planet, to begin the expansion beyond our original natural habitat to a new world, a real new world . . . Mars.

KEVIN COUSINEAU

Tehachapi