Maxwell Knight mentions the space race in his unpublished manuscript The Frightened Face of Nature and here’s a poignant quote from the same document:

Maxwell Knight space race

Knight’s point was that man should explore; however, why can’t we do these things without destroying natural capital?

 

It’s right to celebrate the Moon landing – 50 years ago, Apollo 11 launched to the Moon and our appetite for space exploration is well and truly back with Mars (the fourth planet from the Sun) being the subject of not only for human exploration but for farming.

As Tesla, Virgin et al seize the opportunity to claim space for commercial gain I can’t help thinking that Maxwell Knight was right – if only we could race for space for nature. Let’s not reduce our scientific search for ‘extra’ space; however, let’s do more (much more) to look after the only space we currently have, which is here and now on Earth.