Thoughts on Doing Great Things

Reflections after the 2025 Space Syposium.

One way to view it is as an overpriced resort full of greedy people trying to stuff billions of taxpayer dollars into their own pockets to build things that don't solve any serious problems we face. Another way to view it is as a gathering of some of the best and the brightest in the world to do hard things, push technology beyond the leading edge, democratize communication, and protect the high ground from bad actors.

I'm talking about the annual Space Symposium in Colorado Springs. This is the 40th gathering of most of the significant players in the space industry to talk about policy, share discoveries, and do business. It is an amazing event that gave me some hope for tomorrow.

You see, I still believe that we, this country, the US, can do amazing things. Things that other countries not only dream about doing but that their best and brightest come here to do. We are the ones who can go to the moon, establish global communication and navigation, fly by Pluto, and study the sun. We are the ones who have controlled the high ground for intelligence, command, and control.

All of that not only pushed our technological advances forward but also made the world a safer and better place. More importantly for me, these people accomplished difficult things, and they did great things. I'm idealistic enough to think it is important for a society to do great things.

I talked to two astronauts during the week. One older and another younger. They have circled the earth in the International Space Station for months and looked down on our planet. It made me think of how far we have come from our humble beginnings when we didn't even understand what the stars were, what the moon was, or where we fit in it all. Now, people live in orbit. Soon we will live on the moon and Mars. And we have devices that peer back into time close to where it all began.

But yes, part of me sometimes wonders if we should do so much in space when there is so much to fix here. The drug epidemic, homelessness, rising authoritarianism, wealth consolidation, climate change, microplastics, racism, and sexism. And don’t forget general hatred, greed, and selfishness. All of which seem to be getting worse.

But I think those things are worse because we forgot that humans need to do great things. We must build jaw-dropping structures, explore, create art that pulls at the soul, and seek to understand our universe. If we don't, then we are just needs and wants and greed and fear. It doesn't have to be one or the other. We have done it all in the past -- we can do it again.

I know we can do it because I spent the better part of the week with the people who can do it. They have the vision, the skills, the knowledge, and the hunger to do great things. We as a country just need to start dreaming big dreams again.