Blog: Whatever happened to the final frontier?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3oHmVhviO8&feature=fvwrel

Blog: I well remember as a young boy the thrilling news of the first human space flight by Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, writes Dave Morris.

And 50 years later I have been devouring every word written over the past couple of days on the anniversary of the historic 108-minutes flight on April 12, 1961.

My imagination all those years ago had already been stoked up by the science fiction stories I read in my Lion and Tiger comics. Every week I was held spellbound by heroes such as Captain Condor and Jet-Ace Logan.

Yuri made it seem all the more real.

And just under a month later on May 5, 1961, Alan Shepard became the second person, and the first American, to travel into space.

He was quite rightly hailed as a national hero in the US.

In 1971 Shepard made his second space flight as commander of Apollo 14 and the third successful lunar landing mission.

But - and this just shows how fickle a young boy can be - I didn't feel quite the same excitement when he followed Yuri into space.

Yuri had made an orbital flight while Shepard made a suborbital flight lasting less than 16 minutes. However he did appear to wear a more sophisticated space suit!

I continued to follow the space race with fascination, sat up all night with my dad to follow every second of the moon landing, and held my breath waiting to hear whether the Apollo 13 crew had made a successful re-entry into the earth's atmosphere after their mission came so close to tragedy.

I have watched most Shuttle take-offs and landings, and fought back the tears when disaster has struck.

Nowadays I'm again feeling a tinge of disappointment.

The drive to send manned flights to Mars and beyond seems to have stalled, no doubt because of the high cost involved.

Here on our troubled planet there appear to be so many more pressing matters to deal with. But don't we need the creative energies unleashed by space programmes and spin-off technologies that can benefit us all?

After Yuri's flight I was convinced that it wouldn't be too long before bases were built on the moon and even Mars - that there would be regular flights to them. The universe, it seemed, was waiting for mankind.

Now the dream appears to be over.

Or is it?

The Chinese have successfully carried out manned space flights, and it is reported, are considering a moon expedition.

How the American and Russians will feel about this I haven't the faintest idea.

But it might just give them fresh impetus to reach for the stars, and send flesh and blood Captain Condors and Jet-Ace Logans on amazing adventures.

I really do hope so.