Thanks for the visibility and promotion here! I'm a couple of days late, so I'll do better next year. Especially since I'm a rocket scientist! If anyone wants to help or encourage more people to do great things above and beyond Earth's surface, I've got a great book for them and lots of energy to assist.

Let's go back to the Moon and on to Mars.

All great achievers! By the way, I began a recent talk with a Powerpoint focusing on Franklin and his achievements and speculate that he would smile knowing of all the great achievements that came after him.

I remember that day so well. I was a teenager watching the events on a tiny little 4X5 inch mini TV, but completely enthralled.

I had already been reading Ayn Rand and was struggling but achieving the integration of so many concepts important to a young adult seeking definition.

With that moon landing event, I passed a threshold of understanding that teams can be a collection of individuals rather than an overriding subordination of the individual to the team. And that as an acknowledged team of individuals, so much more can be accomplished and retain the recognition of the individual than the forced participation of the collective.

I had been struggling with this with my High School soccer team and how I was supposed to be a "team player" rather then an overriding "star" and all that. The "team player" concept failing against individual recognition allowed for the acknowledgement of self worth which allows for the easy recognition and extension to other individuals of their accomplishing value and worth.

This is the basis for why a Hank Reardon would respect and prefer to deal with a Ken Danagger than an Orrin Boyle.

The moon landing was an accomplishment of a nation that was still based upon individualism and that basis of achievement. This is the basis of civilization.

It is just horrendous that we now have that critical line of distinction having been crossed. Participation in a joint effort is now a forced matter of the "common good". This is the basis of barbarism.

Well said CG!

Yes. I shudder to think of the high risk that that astronauts would be stranded and die on the moon. But they pulled it off perfectly, all without modern microprocessors as we know them today. When we had the Space Shuttle, I don't' think most people realized how much farther the Apollo astronauts went. They were the only ones ever to see the earth as a sphere and not stretched out below.

Your positivity is certainly refreshing. I like it.

Not only does it miss the point, it's wrong on two counts.

In re your assertion that NASA has not helped humanity on earth: http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/tech...

In re your implication that the money might be spent better elsewhere (I chose food aid as the example): http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandsty...

Yes, after enduring our 'Faux' faults and so called failures it's about time we boost moral!

Right on the mark! This is the goal in promoting the human achievement meme. A key audience is achievers or would-be achievers who have the values of a Roark but need the politics of a Galt. This is consciousness-raising. If they take pride in their work and shrug off the sanction of the victim, they will be with us as we seize the moral highground both of the culture and politics!

If there's a global collapse, we might be facing many Ashau valleys. How can we maintain a sense of landing on the moon after Hamburger Hill?

The one thing missing in the article is, "how do we ensure that a culture of achievement doesn't die?" We read about what happened when the Roman empire collapsed; what followed was 1,000 years of barbarism. What can we do to ensure that, even in a collapse, we don't have to face 1,000 years of failure?

While attempting to spread the achievement ethos, I would also seek out those who are already achievers but are being held down, stymied, and discouraged. This could be done while changing or upgrading the culture, and they could become the examples to those who are being shown the advantages of achievement.

Sir;
I am quite familiar with the article AR wrote. I also think that it was a significant achievement, however I also view this ultimately as a waste of money because I do not believe humanity in general has benefited from space exploration, which is an over statement. There is or can be much to do on earth that would be beneficial to humanity in general of course if government were not in the way. I believe the ultimate use of what we are doing up there is for military purposes alone. Those for the most part who work at nasa are dead weight.

Which misses the point. I have argued for private rather than government space efforts for decades. See my book "Space: The Free-Market Frontier." The point is to focus on the virtues it took to put humans on the Moon. Consider the great quotes from Ayn Rand in my piece "Apollo 11 on Human Achievement Day," linked here: http://atlassociety.org/commentary/co...

big deal. since we were able to achieve putting people on the moon how has that helped humanity to live better on earth? that is nothing more than a side show. just imagine how much good could have been done with the monies that nasa wastes, of course that assumes the government was honest.

I agree on this point. So the goal I seek to achieve is to spread the achievement ethos in our culture. I think it is doable. Young people especially thirst for ideals and a vision of a better future. We can can provide these and show them how they can dream big and realize those dreams!

Thanks! I hate to use a cliche, but pay it forward. There are so many folks out there who need spiritual fuel!

I remember it well, almost like it was yesterday. July 20th 1969, we just were cleaning up operations in the Ashau Valley. The choppers were still hauling out the dead and wounded. A few days later someone told me that Neil Armstrong had walked on the moon. I said something about it felt like we had just done that, walked on the moon. And after I heard it on Armed Forces radio I wasn't sure I believed it as it was reported by Walter Cronkite. We didn't like him too much back in the day. I was drafted out of Rocketdyne, working in the space program but somehow didn't' feel like part of team anymore that put them up there. It wasn't the best part of my life so far. We had just lost one of our own and put many others on their last chopper ride.

I agree.
One Caveat: The need for a supportive culture, is becoming a fading dream. If the present trends continue achievement will be contrary or apart from the decaying supportive culture.

I have to tell you that in the early days of Objectivism in NY I was severely criticized for admiring Beethoven's Ninth as it wasn't positive like Rachmaninoff. I was born on Beethoven's birthday and used peanuts to remind friends of it. My favorite is the Dohnanyi version. Lookout aliens hello humans. Ahn de Fruede (sp)

I have always admired the billions of achievements from the unknown inventor of the wheel on up. With all the horrific news headlines, which I won't detail, you have managed to lift my spirits ten fold. I can now go out and keep achieving. Thank you.

Yay us! And Yay U.S.!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cVOO...

Jan

My candidate for Man's greatest achievement would be Ford's introduction of the mass produced automobile, an enabling technology which has given new choices to millions of people and still does today. (And it needs to be celebrated because the evil greens are trying to take it away from us.)