You need dreamers and visionaries to make space exploration a success. Von Braun was a dreamer and I don't think we would have made it to the moon (certainly not as quickly) if he'd not been there.
We will always need zealots. ~Stephanie B of The Rocket Scientist and Ask Me Anything commenting on We Should Not Be Catered To
Don't get me wrong, the Evangelical Space Cadet and the Interstellar Zealot are two very important units in the war for public support of space habitation. These types of participants in the space movement are the people who change opinion by just speaking about their passions. They are the one's who paint a vision of the future that inspire hope for future generation. They are the ones who tirelessly work without getting paid and we are lucky to have had men like Von Braun in the past who pushed the huge boulder that is this movement when it has no momentum. But, I think these grunts of the space movement have major flaws that must be complimented with something. Just how tanks, infantry, and aircraft compliment each other on the battlefield.
My candle burns at both ends
It will not last the night;
But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends -
It gives a lovely light.~ Edna St. Vincent Millay
I think this points out exactly what zealots mean for the space movement. We are passionate about space, but we do not have the strength to be present continuously through out his multigenerational plan. If your dual-burning candle burns out during the night, one could very easily replace it, but there will be a few moment of darkness. In this darkness, I fear the space movement could be lost.
The problem is in the passing of the touch from one generation of zealots to another. This would not be a problem if you could pull interstellar flight off in 20 years, we can't. We can not guaranty that the older zealots will resonate with younger people to produce more zealots. This is a multigenerational plan and the movement will morph with each generation.
Having zealots in this movement makes it easy for us. Our passion; our space infused blood is shown through out all our works. That, in addition to our logic, cuts down our enemies who do not have a passion for destroying space flight. Furthermore, we serve as an inspiration reminding those cadets who may have been discouraged why they are in this field. I stopped blogging for about 2 months, but came back because I was still reading the works of those in the field.
Zealots are just an unpredictable blessing, we must plan for when they are not there. Because of the amount of time involved with realizing this vision, we must insure our movement is sustainable. A sustainable process have all it's inputs be predictable.
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What do you think the zealot's place is in this movement? Will they cause trouble for us each time the movement is handed off to the next generation?
