Heavy Lift at Cape Canaveral

Several months ago, I visited the John F. Kennedy Space Center in Florida and snapped a number of shots of various rockets. This one picture is the business end of the no longer needed or used Saturn 5 rocket - LOTS of power.

This was the first stage of the rocket that launched men to the moon, and rivaled the former Soviet Union's heavy lift rockets. We no longer make the Saturn, and soon the shuttle program will close down. The shuttle of course never could take man to the moon, except perhaps in some zany "Airplane" movies. Our current President isn't interested much in the man in the moon, let alone sending men back to the moon, and soon we'll be having to send our own astronauts to the International Space Station on Russian rockets topped by Soyuz capsules.

So, when I visited this center, it was a visit to the American century, when people like Kennedy and Reagan had vision. I don't see anybody on the political horizon who could compare to either of those giants.

Oh, who are those people in the picture? That's our future Obamanauts, waiting for the fearless leader to order another heavy lift rocket. They'll need it.