Oct. 16, 1997, a date which I have been looking forward to for decades, will be here soon. That’s the date the fictional Robinson family became “Lost In Space” on board their spaceship, the Jupiter 2.
What does this have to do with Woodrow? Previous generations of Wildcats were shaped by the Roaring ‘20s, the Great Depression and World War II. As the Atomic Age juxtaposed the Jet Age and segued into the Space Age, the expectations and hopes of my generation were shaped.
Would we be wiped out by the Commies, or would we all unite in the future, a la “Star Trek,” after World War III?
Although the Red Menace has been reduced, we still have a ways to go in interstellar travel. Earlier this year, I finally realized my dream of watching a space shuttle launch in person at Cape Canaveral. It was awesome.
The recent rendezvous of the Hale-Bopp Comet and the Surveyor and Pathfinder missions to Mars have thrust our very own Richard Berendzen, ’56, to stardom as the world’s authority on outer space.
“I believe the people who will travel to Mars are alive today, possibly in high school,” he said on a recent edition of “Nightline.”
My senses tell me it will be a Wildcat to reach the Red Planet first.
