When I read that story this morning on the International Space Station adding a "storage closet", my first reaction was, "Why are we adding to the space station? Aren't we ending our shuttle missions with this one?" That's when it hit me that other countries are still going into space; it's just us staying home.

What happened?

I know we ended the space shuttle program basically to save money, but , for me, it raised a lot of questions about where our enthusiasm for space exploration went. Have we decided there's nowhere worth traveling to in space? Do we think we'll never want (or need!) to live on another planet? Did we originally get excited about space travel because the Soviets we going and we just didn't want them to be first? Have we become such a society of instant gratification that we figure, 'It takes years to get to Jupiter; why go?' Are we developing just to make today better and not for the future?

I remember when we stopped everything to watch Neil Armstrong take his "giant leap" and watch the first space shuttle leave Florida and think that someday... I guess in America, maybe not.

More From KSEN AM 1150