Inspiring kids by thinking big in space

I was there.  It was a great talk.  I’m still grappling with the personal implications.  On the one hand, you have folks who actually get to do this stuff for a living.  More power to them.  But then what do the rest of us do if we haven’t had the opportunity to directly participate?  We need to do more than just talk to our children about the great things we’re going to do in space.  We need to show them, in at least some small way, what they can do to take part in the story and to help bring these things about.

Oh, and the answer to the question of when did I stop seeing opportunities for obstacles:  When I realized that NASA was not going to get me into space.  I started to dig deeper into why we only had one spaceship, and why it was so expensive.  I then fell down the ensuing rabbit hole into orbital mechanics and rocket equations.  These are incredibly interesting, but they also have a way of putting a damper on hyperbolic fantasies about what we will likely be able to do in space within my lifetime.  In short, you grow up when you stop idly dreaming and start looking at what its going to take to make those dreams come true.