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In a little more than 15 years, the United States went from launching its first satellites (Explorer 1 and Vanguard 1 in 1958) to putting men in space, then on the moon, then to landing a spacecraft safely on Mars (Viking in 1976).

Think about that for a minute: People who had gone west in covered wagons on the Oregon Trail as children were still alive when the United States launched those satellites.

People born in 1869, when the last member of Lewis and Clark expedition was still alive, were watching Americans walk on the moon.

People born in the horse-and-buggy era lived to see America land an unmanned spacecraft on Mars.

Those were heady days for our country and anxious ones, too.

Perhaps America is ready to resume its place as the world leader in space exploration. Lets hope so.

Earlier this month, Vice President Mike Pence visited NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida and in doing so highlighted the next step the Orion spacecraft and its launch counterpart, the SLS, or Space Launch System, which will be the worlds most powerful rocket. This combination has the potential to take astronauts back to the moon, then to Mars and perhaps to asteroids.

Let us do what our nation has always done since its very founding and beyond: Weve pushed the boundaries on frontiers, not just of territory, but of knowledge. Weve blazed new trails, and weve astonished the world as weve boldly grasped our future without fear, Pence said. We will put American boots on the face of Mars.

It had echoes of the promises and potential of the dawning of the Space Age.

The first flight of the integrated Orion/Space Launch System is scheduled for 2019, which would be a fitting way to recognize the 50th anniversary of Neil Armstrong walking on the moon.

Explorer 1 burned up on re-entry a few years after launch, but Vanguard is still up there the oldest man-made object in space. Neil Armstrongs footprints are still there, and Viking is still on the Martian surface, waiting for another generation of explorers to rediscover it, perhaps even to bring it home and put it in the Smithsonians National Air and Space Museum, alongside Apollo 11, Friendship 7, Bell X-1, the Spirit of St. Louis, the Wright Flyer, and other milestones of air and space.

The late astronaut Eugene Cernan, who as part of the crew of Apollo 17 became the last man to walk on the moon, consistently challenged us to push forward in space.

After Apollo 17, America stopped looking toward the next horizon, he once said. The United States had become a spacefaring nation, but threw it away.

Its time we become a spacefaring people once again.

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Our View: Mike Pence challenges us to resume role as space-faring nation - Joplin Globe