Letters: On, Voyager
Re “NASA confirms Voyager milestone,†Sept. 13
Iread of Voyager 1 leaving our solar system with more excitement, pride and soaring emotion than I had expected. I’m a retired teacher, and I remember the excitement that Voyager 1 stirred when it was launched in 1977. It was proof of American ingenuity, a measure of our national resolve to be first in everything we tried to accomplish.
My students’ imaginations were fired up by America’s achievements in space. In fact, two of them went on to earn seats on space shuttle missions. They made me so proud, and so did the American dream of yesteryear.
In those days, NASA was a well-funded institution, designing many of the instruments we now take for granted. My students were taught to explore beyond the limits of their imagination, just as Voyager has plied its way across our solar system and is now exploring interstellar space. Those students and my own children are out in the world, each a unique kind of Voyager.
I hope that the privateers who have co-opted our space program have the kind of imaginations that those at NASA had when they conceived of Voyager. Without that, our future students may not have the right stuff.
Gladys Thomashevsky
Greenbrae, Calif.
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