Amazing! A Rant

   Space exploration has been in the news a lot this week. It was 44 years ago July 20th man first set foot on the moon. Then, the Cassini probe near Saturn took a picture of Earth and the moon.....and a remarkable picture it is. And the Messenger probe near Mercury also took our portrait. Then, the Mars Curiosity rover set a distance record of 329 feet.
   And yet a lot of the comments I've seen continue showing how stupid people are. First, the moon landing. A lot of people continue saying it was fake. Then, the latest portrait of us and our place in the solar system. People say it was photo-shopped. As far as Curiosity goes, if people aren't saying that's taking place on a stage or in some remote part of the Mojave, they deride what is an amazing accomplishment.
   Folks who can't grasp how important these milestones in exploration have been are either living in the dark ages, or have their heads stuck in the sand. I vividly remember watching the Apollo missions, and was glued to the T.V when the late Neil Armstrong and "Buzz" Aldrin took those historic steps on the moon. And for those doubters who say it was staged, please explain how data from instruments left on the moon's surface by all the Apollo missions is STILL being retrieved and analyzed. I guess they'll say it's contrived and is as fake as the landing itself.
   As for the Cassini/Messenger pictures, they were not photo-shopped. In fact, it's a great counterpoint to the momentous "Family Portrait" taken by Voyager 2 in 1990, which highlighted what the late Carl Sagan called "The Pale Blue Dot". Although people will still ask "where are the stars" in the pictures without knowing about exposure times etc.
   Finally, Curiosity. 329 feet doesn't sound like a lot here on earth, but consider the environment on Mars, and the fact that commands from Earth take a few minutes to make it to that remarkable rover.
   So, where does this leave us? Apparently in 2 different camps. On the one side, you have rational, thinking, scientifically aware people who not only don't doubt our space achievements, but would like to see more. A return to the moon.....possibly a manned Mars mission. Certainly, more probes to the regions not physically attainable by humans.
   Then, there's the other camp. Most (not all, but most) seem to live in a netherworld where science is downplayed if not vilified. In other words, religious fanatics who want to believe more in a Fairy Tale where some cloud rider controls us rather than the rational world where WE are more or less in control. Not always for the good, I admit.
   I choose to live in the rational world, rather than cloud cuckoo land.
   'Nuff said.