The space and digital frontier: 1965-2026 (Part 5 of 5)
Astronaut Buzz Aldrin stands on the Moon facing a United States flag during the Apollo 11 mission in July 1969. Courtesy of NASA.
During the 1960s and 70s, the Vietnam War and subsequent skirmishes abroad shook America’s confidence in its government and politicians. That same internal dissent abroad brought down the Soviet Union as a wave of freedom swept over Europe with the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
Our national glory shifted to technology with the NASA Apollo program culminating in six successful moon landings from 1969 to 1972. Apollo 11, our first manned moon landing was an epic triumph for the United States and humankind.
In the 1980s, personal computers made their debut in homes and offices. MTV launched in 1981, transforming the music industry. In the 1990s, the Internet and cell phones became widely available to the American public. The NBA grew popular with stars like Michael Jordan setting records with every shot.
Differences in culture, religion and politics caused bad blood to spill over, reaching our shores on September 11, 2001. The tragedy awakened the United States and the world to state-sponsored terrorism and brought on the Global War on Terrorism that lasted until 2011.
Activism for gay rights continued to rise throughout the states in the early 2000s with legal acceptance of gay marriage and anti-discrimination protections. The human genome was mapped for the first time in 2003, giving scientists a blueprint for DNA.
The 2008 global financial crisis, the result of a collapsing housing market, had ramifications that are still felt in many ways today. The economy began a recovery in the 2010s. Smartphones became widespread, as did music and television streaming.
The 2020s came with challenges—a pandemic, nationwide protests, political divisiveness and another brief recession. But it is not all bad news. Electric cars, once thought of as a pipe dream, are now commonplace. We are returning to the moon with the NASA Artemis Program. Access to information is at an all-time high. Anyone with a dream and the drive to follow through can have a go at being an entrepreneur.
And this is our strength. We are idea incubators and have been, right back to 1776. The formula: independence, the freedom to think, having a voice and acting on bold, unfettered ideas. No country on earth offers more fertile ground for the ideas of dreamers. Risk is in our DNA.
In a mere 250 years, we have come from a seedling to a mighty sequoia, reaching the moon and beyond.
Electric cars charging at a public charging station.
By Joe Gschwendtner; courtesy photos
