We need new reference points; the old ones are not working.
If they were, we wouldn’t be so negative.
Have you heard of the James Webb Space Telescope?
Do you think the Space Telescope fits into any discussions on how America is falling apart?
What about how America is losing its edge because of immigration or public schools?Or any other subject the doomsayers want to use?
Let me give you some facts about the James Webb Space Telescope. The project was proposed in 1996, with contracts awarded in 2003 and a successful launch in December 2021. That’s 25 years between concept and launch or 18 years between contracts awarded and launch. No matter which dates you use, it took a long time!
Since 1996, we have had five presidents: Clinton, Bush, Obama, Trump, and Biden.That’s two Republicans and three Democrats, and a significant number of times Congress has changed hands regarding majorities.
Yet the Webb telescope project persevered throughout this political funding juggernaut.
Are you with me so far?
My point in bringing this into the conversation is that we have grown so cynical and sarcastic in our storytelling that we don’t report success stories because we “THINK” of them as boring, so we stop talking about things like the Webb telescope.
It is anything but boring! Have you seen the pictures?
Do you know what we are learning?
Do you realize these pictures are changing the narrative of how the Earth came to be?
It is more than a technological marvel; it is a human race marvel, and only in the Netflix movie do they touch on some of the details of the people aspect of the project.
The Webb telescope project involved around 10,000 people and had 344 “single point failures.” A single-point failure is an action that, if it fails, the entire project is stopped.
Please consider the significance of 10,000 people working on one project over 25 years. What kind of people do you think those 10,000 were? Multiple religions, ethnicities, and educational abilities are the most likely scenario. I guess that even the janitorial staff made a difference on this project.
I’m not here to go into an engineering mode. I want to call bullshit to all those people who say the US is in decline. When we want to do something, we can, and we do. It has been this way in the US for a long time and will continue to be this way well into the future.
One of my favorite writers on Substack said, and I quote: Stop sh*t talking America. This is the greatest country on earth, and it’s time that we all start acting like it.” Heather Cox Richardson – Letters From An American.
As I write this, I believe the chasm between reality and the media narrative has never been as vast as today.
This needs to change!
To change your perspective, click any one of the info links below.
Thanks for reading
Links for additional reading:
1. Wikipedia summary (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Webb_Space_Telescope)
2. Unknown Cosmic Time Machine - 1hr 4 min movie on Netflix – made in 2023
3. 26 page document on the benefits of space explorations - https://www.nasa.gov/wp-
content/uploads/2015/01/benefits-stemming-from-space-exploration-2013-
tagged.pdf?emrc=ca90d1#:~:text=Overcoming%20the%20challenges%20of%20working
,information%20technology%2C%20and%20industrial%20productivity.
4. Everyday benefits of space exploration – Canada - https://www.asc-