Tuesday, July 20, is the 35th anniversary of the most significant milestone to date in the history of human spaceflight: the landing of Apollo 11 on the Moon and the first steps upon another world.

Those were heady days, back in the 1960s. In the midst of social upheaval that led to sweeping changes in the cultural landscape of our country, there was a rush of innovation and technology that gave us the Apollo program, whose very clear purpose was to fulfill the mandate of President Kennedy to land a man on the Moon within the decade ... and thus prove ourselves better than the Russians. Despite the underlying Cold War-inspired agenda, the so-called "Space Race" stimulated the imagination of the populace, increased interest among the youth in science and engineering, and spawned some of the greatest science fiction ever produced for movies and TV. (Ironically perhaps, Star Trek had already been cancelled by the time of Apollo 11, due to a ratings system which failed to reveal the extent of the show's popularity.)

There were five more landings on the Moon after that, ending with Apollo 17 in December of 1972 (Apollo 13, of course, didn't make it). Then all subsequent missions were cancelled by Congress. Since then, no human being has ventured beyond low Earth orbit.

Things had progressed so rapidly throughout the 1960s that we were all certain that a manned mission to Mars was imminent — probably in the 1980s — and that flights to orbiting space stations and permanent bases on the Moon would be commonplace by, say, the year 2001. Star Trek predicted that a DY class of sleeper ships would be available to take tyrants into interstellar exile by 1996.

It all seemed possible in 1969. And it was. It's now 2004. What happened?

It boils down to two things: Money, and will.

Yes, taking humans into space is a huge commitment, and thus a huge investment. But seeing it as an investment, what's the payoff? It's a trite and vacuous argument to cite the ancillary benefits of the space program, such as advancements in computer technology, new metal alloys, and Velcro. Forget that — what's the real, direct benefit of pouring so much money into sending people into space when we have so many problems to solve here at home?

Of course, when you consider the dollars poured into the military-industrial complex and other political priorities that arguably create more problems than they solve, compared to the relative pittance that has ever been committed to the space program, that question becomes equally vacuous. But putting that argument aside for a moment, why should we go into space? Why should we go back to the Moon, and why should we walk on Mars, as NASA is currently directed to do in the next few decades by presidential decree?

Scientific discovery? Yes. Potential commercial opportunities? Even better. Future colonization? Even better! It turns out to be such a long-term investment, though, that the bottom-line results seem too far away to even consider. But could there be a more basic, more compelling motivation, an imperative of the human soul?

The human animal has always reached for the heavens. It's an essential aspect of what makes us unique among the creatures of Earth. For millennia we have gazed into the night sky and wondered what it's all about. And we have used our fertile imaginations to invent stories and scenarios that, for the time being, would fulfill some of that curiosity and yearning for answers.

But now we have an opportunity to physically, materially know and experience the reality of the universe. Our imagination won't go away; our stories will simply adapt to the new knowledge. But our consciousness will shift as we finally embrace the understanding that there is no separation between Heaven and Earth, that we are products not just of the soil but of the cosmos.

And to do that — to achieve that shift in consciousness — we need to do more than send out fancy robots to take pictures for us. Yes, that's an important step. But we need to be there. We need to go out, we need to walk around, and we need to look back upon Earth with our own eyes. We need to fulfill the promise we made to ourselves centuries ago that we would someday know and experience the heavens.

As Ray Bradbury said earlier this year to a Planetary Society conference during the Spirit landing, "The universe is a vast theater, a magnificent theater, full of miracles... We have been created as an audience to the miracles. We are here to see, and to worship, and to understand." (Related story.) There are many materialistic reasons to venture out into space — among them, the survival of the species — but as Bradbury poetically observed, the real reasons are spiritual.

Money, and will. But where there's will, there will be money. That's where you come in.

The institutions of our society inevitably have to respond to the will of the people. Many of us (present company included) get so wrapped up in our fiction that we fail to pay attention to the reality that the fiction envisions and celebrates. Each of us who makes a commitment to join a space advocacy organization, or attend the launch of a groundbreaking spacecraft, or let our political leaders know we consider the new space initiatives important, perpetuates a wave of support for the idea of bringing humanity into the so-called final frontier, in reality, permanently and irreversibly.

The malaise that occurred post-Apollo need not happen again. We have the technology, and really, we have the money. We just need the collective will. And to exert that will, we all just need to pay a little more attention.

Below are a few links to information sites and organizations which advocate the human adventure in space (including NASA.gov which is currently celebrating Apollo 11, and The Ansari X PRIZE Foundation which is promoting private space enterprise). On this anniversary of Neil Armstrong's "one small step," take a few moments to see how you can actively contribute to and participate in the overdue "giant leap for mankind." Thanks for listening.