Look what we can do...

This past weekend I went to the new Smithsonian Air & Space Museum by Dulles in Nova. It has more modern stuff than the original Air & Space Museum, but you can't get quite as close to the planes. They have the Space Shuttle Enterprise which was really just used for testing purposes; it never actually went to space. They also have an Air France concorde. It would have been interesting to see inside of either one of these planes but at the museum you just sort of stroll around the outside. It was interesting that the plaque about the concorde described how it was retired because it wasn't profitable anymore, and they failed to mention the 2000 Paris crash was the main reason for the drop in sales, from which it never recovered. There was also an interesting IMAX movie about the International Space Station. Although I wish I had seen the Roving Mars one instead.

Anyway, the real point of this post is that it is really quite amazing what we can do. In 1903, the Wright Brothers invented the airplane. Up until that time, the only way to fly was by hot air balloon, which has no real utility. 66 years later, 3 dudes land on the moon. Say you were born in 1883. You grow up thinking that you will only be able to travel on land or sea. Then you turn 20, the plane is invented, and suddenly airborne travel is possible. The TV is invented - pictures traveling through the air. And with the TV, when you're 86, you watch 3 guys walk on the moon. Space travel is possible. It is simply amazing.

I'm 24 now. Within my lifetime, the Internet was invented. Cell phones are ubiquitous. We have sent a rover to Mars. What other impossible feat will we accomplish?