Exciting times

Dear Editor,

Human beings always have watched the sky. Job 9:9 of the old Testament mentions the Pleiades, Arcturs and Orion. Psalms 8:3 includes a statement about the sun, moon and stars.

My childhood memories include some field trips to the science department at the University of Denver. It was exciting to see the constellation of Orion, the great hunter. Betelgeuse, a red star, marked his shoulder. Very faint stars outlines the sword hanging from his belt.

So much has happened since Alan Shepherd took the first American manned space flight May 5, 1961. Until July 1969, a man walking on the moon was like an adventure in a science fiction story.

Now the NASA-Kepler telescope is searching for planets outside our solar system.

Our space shuttle program will officially end this summer. Privately funded spacecraft will be put to use. The International space station will be completed after 10 years of construction.

Spaceport America is scheduled to open in New Mexico by the end of this year. This is designed for recreational space travel. People enthusiastic over this type of trip are depositing money toward the $200,000 ticket.

Unmanned space probes aboard the Delta 2 rocket will go to the moon in September 2011.

They collect information on the moon's dust and its atmosphere. The curiosity (another craft) will gather facts about the planet Mars. Juno, a special spacecraft, will begin a five-year cruise in August 2011 so we can discover more about Jupiter. (See the AARP Bulletin May 2011 page 39).

I am glad to be alive when all this is taking place.

Helen Ruth Arnold,

Trenton, Nebraska