My life up to this point has seen a constant erosion of our ambitions in space. But it seems that we have seen a strong inflection point.
Quote from: RedLineTrain on 12/14/2021 02:20 pmMy life up to this point has seen a constant erosion of our ambitions in space. But it seems that we have seen a strong inflection point.For about the last ten years, I have been referring to "back during the space age". Now I would say "back during the first space age", and of course "during the [new|second] space age"
The first Space Age was originally conceived in the crucible of the Cold War, given that the launch of Sputnik 1 stunned the US and prompted the creation of NASA as well as the launch of the Explorer 1 satellite, but also because the US was in a race with the USSR to get the first people on the moon. However, Japan and China launched their first satellites in 1970, so the early 1970s didn't just herald the winding down of the Cold War space race between the US and USSR but also a new space race between China and Japan.The new space age you are referring too may be best called the age of private spaceflight and the end of the operational careers of American SLVs, bearing the names of Cold War ballistic missiles, given that the Vulcan rocket is an all-new design despite borrowing some elements from the Atlas V and Delta IV Heavy.