Space Traveling

Space would be such a cool place to visit. Just thinking about it makes my head spin. The problem is that the process of being CONSIDERED to go to space is both time consuming and labor-intensive. A good third of your life leads up to this once in a lifetime opportunity of leaving the Earth's atmosphere and traveling into the unknown. However, I'm not arguing about whether it's worth it or not.

Unfortunately, not all of us can become astronauts. Sure, there are thousands, maybe even millions of people who would love to go to space, but most people do not have the resources to access the final frontier. It's unbelievably frustrating when we have limitations on our dreams. It would be nice to overcome our socioeconomic class and rise above to become an astronaut, but as my sociology class taught me that is rarely the case. Space travel is possible for the hopeful and rich, but it is an impossibility to everyone else.

So instead of chasing the impossible, I (like many others) watch the movie Apollo 13.

Yes, I realize that watching Apollo 13 is not the same as going into space, but I also realize it's a pretty good summary of what it would be like and it's presented in a way that's much more accessible. No one criticizes you that you're missing out on space when you watch the movie. Most of my friends can relate to my yearning for space travel and the brutal reality that's associated with it. Also, if you're not astronaut material, there's plenty of other space jobs a person can acquire along the way. Just because someone has never been in space doesn't mean they have less appreciation for it then the guys working the command center down on Earth.

Give the command center guys some credit. They have an interest and they tried to go to space. Extenuating circumstances prevented them from going.