my astronaut dream can come true after all!!

Once upon a time, I was reading a short story from a Young America Basic Reading Program book (a required reading in grade school). This story was about people traveling from Earth to somewhere in outer space, whose space ship was saved from asteroids and other floating materials by bubble gum.

This story was one of the more memorable ones for me from grade school; no, it's not because of bubble gum. This story made me think about what it must be like to travel in outer space (hence the development of my recently quashed dream of becoming an astronaut).

I'll see you again. Someday.

The short story, written probably in the 1970s, was talking about commercial space flights. About forty years after the Young America story has been published, it looks like commercial space flight is almost a reality. That is, after NASA mothballed the Space Shuttle program. Hope unlooked for (for me) came up when SpaceX's first attempt at unmanned space flight went smoothly two weeks ago. Other private companies are into the space race as well. One day, choosing which space ship to ride in will be similar to choosing which airline to fly with.

In the near future, there will be commercial flights to the moon, or to Mars, even. I just feel it. Yes, fellow backseat astronauts, our dream can become a reality pretty soon!

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