Space Flight Awareness address, Tuesday June 5, 2007

Wayne Hale

**IT IS VERY GOOD TO BE HERE WITH THE BEST OF THE BEST WHO MAKE HUMAN
SPACE FLIGHT A REALITY. EVERYONE HERE HAS BEEN INVITED BECAUSE OF
SPECIAL EFFORTS YOU HAVE MADE TOWARD THE SUCCESS OF THE SPACE SHUTTLE
FLIGHT PROGRAM OR THE CONTINUED SPECTACULAR SUCCESS OF THE INTERNATIONAL
SPACE STATION.**

**FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO ARE SPOUSES OR RELATIVES OF THE HONOREES -- YOU
SHOULD BE VERY PROUD OF THEIR ACCOMPLISHMENTS. AND WE THANK YOU FOR YOUR
SACRIFICE OF THEIR TIME AND THE SUPPORT THAT YOU GIVE TO ALL OUR SPACE
WORKERS.**

**BUT I AM MINDFUL TONIGHT THAT WE CHOSE OUR OWN DESTINY. WE ARE FOUNDED
BY PIONEERS WHO SAW OPPORTUNITY AND WHO HAD THE COURAGE AND ENERGY TO
TAKE A CHANCE.**

**HISTORY TELLS US THAT THERE ARE NO GUARANTEES. IT IS NOT A GIVEN THAT
THE UNITED STATES WILL ALWAYS BE GREAT. TODAY WE ARE THE WORLD'S ONLY
SUPER POWER AND WHAT WE DO IN SPACE CONTRIBUTES TO THAT POSITION.
WITHOUT CONTINUED COURAGE AND SWEAT, WE COULD FIND OURSELVES NO LONGER
THE LEADER OF THE WORLD.**

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**EVERYONE KNOWS THE QUOTATION FROM THE HISTORIAN GEORGE SANTAYANA:
"THOSE WHO DO NOT LEARN FROM THE PAST ARE DOOMED TO REPEAT IT". SO
TONIGHT I HAVE A LITTLE HISTORY LESSON FOR YOU TO THINK ABOUT IN THE
DAYS TO COME.**

**FIVE HUNDRED YEARS AGO THERE WAS ONLY ONE SUPERPOWER IN THE WORLD:
CHINA.**

First picture: Ming vase with dragon

**THE MING EMPIRE RULED A PEOPLE MORE NUMEROUS THAN THE ANCIENT ROMAN
EMPIRE AT ITS HEIGHT, LARGER IN TERRITORY THAN MODERN** Second picture:
map of the Ming empire

**RUSSIA, VASTLY MORE POWERFUL AND RICHER THAN ALL THE PETTY FIEFDOMS OF
CONTEMPORARY CHRISTIAN EUROPE PUT TOGETHER.**

Third picture: Chinese silk tapestry of tiger

**THE MING EMPIRE WAS FABULOUSLY WEALTHY. THE EMPEROR WANTED A NEW
CAPITOL: THEY BUILT THE CITY WE KNOW AS BEJING FROM EMPTY GRAZING
LAND.**

Fourth picture: Chinese gate without people

**THE EMPEROR NEEDED TO FEED THE PEOPLE IN HIS NEW CITY: THEY BUILD THE
GRAND CANAL, AN ENGINEERING FEAT NOT RIVALED UNTIL THE SUEZ AND PANAMA
CANALS.**

Fifth picture: Emperor Zhu Di

**THE EMPEROR WANTED A NAVY, SO HE HAD ONE BUILT: 1,500 SHIPS.**

Sixth picture: model of chinese junk

**THE LARGEST OF THESE SHIPS RIVAL THE SIZE OF WWII'S SUPPORT AIRCRAFT
CARRIERS; THEY WERE THE LARGEST WOODEN SHIPS EVER BUILT, THE LARGEST
SAILING SHIPS EVER BUILT. IT WAS NOT UNTIL THE AGE OF STEAM AND STEEL
FOUR HUNDRED YEARS LATER THAT LARGER SHIPS BUILT. THERE WERE OVER 30,000
SAILORS IN THIS NAVY. CHINA WAS SO INCONCEIVABLY RICH IN THOSE DAYS THAT
THE COST OF THIS VAST NAVY WAS AN INCONSEQUENTIAL FRACTION OF THE
RESOURCES AVAILABLE TO THE EMPEROR.**

Seventh picture: voyages.ppt

**THE CHINESE ADMIRALS SET OUT ON MANY VOYAGES OF DISCOVERY AND COMMERCE
TO THE PHILIPPINES, MALAYSIA, INDIA, AND AS FAR AS THE EAST COAST OF
AFRICA. FOR OVER 40 YEARS THE MING NAVY MADE MANY VOYAGES WHICH RESULTED
IN CHINESE HEGEMONY: TOTAL POLITICAL CONTROL OVER HALF THE WORLD.**

**NOT HALF THE "KNOWN WORLD" AS THOSE IGNORANT EUROPEANS MIGHT GUESS,
BUT HALF THE TOTAL WORLD. FROM THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE THROUGH INDIA TO
THE BERING STRAIT, FROM AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND TO THE WEST COAST OF
THE AMERICAS, TRADE AND TRIBUTE POURED INTO CHINA. ALL OF THESE
ACCOMPLISHMENTS ARE WELL DOCUMENTED AND WELL KNOWN TO HISTORIANS.**

Eighth picture: Chinese silk

**IN A RECENT BOOK, A RETIRED BRITISH ROYAL NAVY SEA CAPTAIN, GAVIN
MENZIES, PROVIDES EVIDENCE THAT THE CHINESE NAVY CIRCUMNAVIGATED THE
WORLD IN 1421, DISCOVERING ANTARTICA IN THE SOUTH AND COMING WITHIN TWO
HUNDRED MILES OF THE NORTH POLE IN THE OTHER DIRECTION. CAPTAIN MENZIES
HAS EVIDENCE THAT THE CHINESE SET UP COLONIES NOT JUST ON THE ORIENT
FACING EAST COAST OF AFRICA, BUT ON THE WEST COAST AS WELL, CHINESE
COLONIES IN THE CARIBBEAN, NEAR PRESENT DAY PROVIDENCE RHODE ISLAND, AND
ON GREENLAND. WOW.**

Ninth picture: Prince Henry the Navigator

**IN 1415, THE TINY PRINCIPALITY OF PORTUGAL PUT EVERYTHING ON THE LINE.
PORTUGAL WAS INSOLVENT, ITS PRINCE IN DEBT AND HIS COURT THREADBARE.
AFTER A HUGE DEBATE, THE PORTUGUESE BORROWED JUST ENOUGH MONEY TO
FINANCE A FEW SHIPS AND THEIR CREWS. WITH LESS THAN TWO DOZEN SHIPS -
NONE OF THEM LARGE BY EVEN THE MISERABLE EUROPEAN STANDARD OF THE DAY --
THE PORTUGUESE FOUGHT A SUCCESSFUL SEA BATTLE IN THE MEDITERRANEAN AND
CAPTURED THE PORT OF CEUTA ON THE NORTH AFRICAN COAST.**

**THIS OPENED UP, EVER SO SLIGHTLY, TRADE WITH THE ORIENT, ESPECIALLY
INCREASED TRADE IN THE HIGHLY DESIRED SPICES FROM THAT REGION.**

Tenth picture: Caravel

**THE SCRAPPY PORTUGUESE DECIDED TO GO FORWARD, LEARNING THE LESSON THAT
TAKING RISKS WAS WORTHWHILE, AND LOSSES COULD BE ACCEPTED. THEY INVENTED
A NEW TYPE OF SHIP SUITED FOR THE STORMY ATLANTIC, THE CARAVEL, THE
FIRST REALLY NEW SHIP DESIGN SINCE ANCIENT TIMES. THE CARAVEL BECAME
ONLY THE FIRST IN A SERIES OF CONTINUALLY IMPROVING AND INNOVATIVE SHIP
DESIGNS THAT HAS CONTINUED EVEN TO THE PRESENT.**

**THE PORTUGUESE EARNED THE ADMIRATION AND ENVY OF ALL THE EUROPEAN
STATES, AND EVERY COUNTRY TRIED TO EMULATE THEM.**

Eleventh picture: Sailing ship under full sail

**OVER THE NEXT CENTURIES, THE EUROPEAN COUNTRIES REPEATEDLY DECIDED TO
GO FORWARD, BY FITS AND BY STARTS, FOR GOOD REASONS AND FOR BAD ONES,
ALWAYS WITH ENDLESS DEBATE, GENERALLY TEETERING ON THE EDGE OF FINANCIAL
INSOLVENCY. BUT THE WEST EUROPEANS MADE THE DECISION TO GO FORWARD INTO
THE WORLD FOR TRADE, TREASURE, DISCOVERY, AND GLORY. THEY IMMERSED THE
WEST IN NEW IDEAS, NEW TECHNOLOGIES, AND NEW INNOVATIONS.**

Twelth picture: chinese silk dark one with tree

**BACK IN CHINA, AFTER A GENERATION OF ASTOUNDING VOYAGES, THE GREAT
MING ADMIRAL DIED AT SEA. THE EMPEROR ALSO DIED, AND THE NEW EMPEROR
CAME UNDER DIFFERENT INFLUENCES.**

**THESE VOICES COUNSELED THE YOUNG EMPEROR TO TURN INWARD. SURELY CHINA
HAD ENOUGH PROBLEMS TO SOLVE IN CHINA, WASTE TUNE AND ENERGY EXPLORING?
THESE ADVISORS TOLD THE EMPEROR THAT THERE WAS NOTHING IN THE WORLD TO
MATCH CHINESE CULTURE - TRUE. THEY TOLD THE EMPEROR THERE WERE NO GOODS
IN THE WORLD TO RIVAL CHINESE GOODS - TRUE. IN SHORT, THEY CONCLUDED,
THERE WAS NOTHING OUT THERE FOR CHINA -- A CONCLUSION THAT SOUNDED
LOGICAL BUT WAS FAR FROM TRUE.**

Thirteenth picture: great wall

**THEY ADVISED THAT CHINA SHOULD PROTECT WHAT THEY HAD FROM THE
FOREIGNERS. FOREIGNERS WHO WANTED WHAT THE CHINESE HAD. THE EMPEROR
FOLLOWED THIS ADVICE. HE COMPLETED THE GREAT WALL TO KEEP FOREIGNERS
OUT. HE BUILT A NEW CAPITAL, A "FORBIDDEN CITY" TO KEEP THE CITIZENS OF
HIS OWN COUNTRY OUT.**

Fourteenth picture: Chinese throne room

**THE EMPEROR ORDERED THAT THE FLEET BE BURNED. THE SAILORS WERE
DISBANDED. IT BECAME A CAPITAL OFFENSE TO BUILD A SAILING SHIP WITH MORE
THAN TWO MASTS. THE EMPEROR ORDERED THAT ALL THE RECORDS OF ALL THE
VOYAGES BE BURNED. CHINA TURNED INWARD.**

Fifteenth picture: Vasco de Gama

**WHEN THE PORTUGUESE EXPLORERS BERNARDO DIAS AND VASCO DE GAMA ROUNDED
THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE FROM THE WEST TO THE EAST, THEY FOUND LEGENDS OF
WHITE GHOST SHIPS THAT HAD COME TWO GENERATIONS EARLIER. AFRICANS ALL
ALONG THE EAST COAST WERE WEARING CHINESE STYLE HATS AND CLOTHES.**

Sixteenth picture: Magellan

**WHEN MAGELLAN CROSSED THE PACIFIC OCEAN AND CLAIMED THE PHILIPPINE
ISLANDS FOR KING CHARLES OF SPAIN HE FOUND SILK AND PORCELAIN, ALL
IMPORTED FROM CHINA YEARS BEFORE, BUT THE TRADERS THAT BROUGHT THEM HAD
VANISHED.**

Seventeenth picture: Ming vase (blue)

**ALL THROUGHOUT THE INDIES, EUROPEANS FOUND REMNANTS OF A CULTURE THAT
HAD BEEN OF GREAT INFLUENCE BUT WHICH HAD DISAPPEARED FROM THE SCENE:
CHINESE CULTURE.**

**THE CHINESE COURSE LEAD INEXORABLY TO STAGNATION, THEN DISSOLUTION,
THEN DECAY, AND FINALLY DESTRUCTION. FOR THERE CAME A DAY WHEN THE
PORTUGUESE AND THE OTHER EUROPEANS CARVED UP THE PITIFULLY WEAK REMNANTS
OF CHINA FOR THEIR OWN COLONIAL USE.**

Eighteenth picture: Chinese robe

**FIVE HUNDRED YEARS LATER, THE GREAT 20^TH^ CHINESE HISTORIAN WEI PU
CONCLUDED THE CHOICE OF DIRECTION WAS CRITICAL. THE CHINESE TURNED
INWARD, THE EUROPEANS WENT FORWARD. THAT CHINESE HISTORIAN OBSERVED:
"THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD FOR THE LAST FIVE HUNDRED YEARS HAS BEEN THE
HISTORY OF THE WEST."**

Nineteenth picture: Statue of Prince Henry

**CHOICES MATTER. THERE ARE CONSEQUENCES, SOME UNSEEN AT THE TIME. BUT
ONE CONSTANT HAS HELD THROUGH HUMAN HISTORY; TAKING RISKS TO FIND NEW
KNOWLEDGE, NEW LANDS, AND NEW WAYS OF DOING THINGS, NEW CULTURES, AND
NEW IDEAS HAS ALWAYS PAID OFF. STAYING HOME IS THE SHORT ROAD TO
FAILURE.**

Twentieth picture: S92-39074

**SO ARE WE, TODAY, TO BE THE CHINESE OR THE PORTUGUESE? WHICH DIRECTION
WILL OUR COUNTRY CHOOSE? THERE ARE NO GUARANTEES, ONLY REWARDS FOR THOSE
WHO ARE WILLING TO SEIZE OPPORUNITY, WORK HARD, AND SHOW COURAGE.**

**THE CHINESE HAVE LEARNED THIS LESSON FROM HISTORY. WILL WE?**