With just a

few days left, it appears as though we may have made it through yet another

year.

And what a

year it was!

It's not often

you have a year that has a date in it that will live in infamy. Just every

60 years or so.

As a believer

in space exploration and the need to move on to the next frontier, I guess

I would have to say I'm pretty disappointed. There was no "space

odyssey" in 2001, and there's not likely to be one for decades.

Each day that

passes, the probability increases that I'll have my name on a headstone

I can't deny

that much of my disappointment is personal and somewhat childish. I grew

up dreaming of space travel, and had truly hoped that it would have become

routine enough by now that I could save up my dollars maybe I'd have to

sell my house and my children and buy space on a commercial flight.

What was it

the Russian guy paid ... tens of millions? Not quite in my ball park yet.

But I'm also

disappointed for the human race.

We're like

the Israelites, languishing in the wilderness, the victims of our own

lack of vision, while the land of milk and honey lies waiting.

No, going to

space won't solve all of our problems, any more than colonizing the New

World solved all of the problems of the Europeans who came here centuries

ago. In fact, the settling of America brought them whole new sets of problems,

didn't it? And as we move into space, we'll also encounter difficulties

we haven't imagined.

But it's in

solving such difficulties that we advance.

We've already

seen quantum leaps in international cooperation as many nations contribute

to the ongoing creation of a way station in space. Going and exploring

and living outside the comfortable confines of our planet is going to

require a lot more of that kind of cooperation. No one nation can do it

alone, not even these United States.

Sept. 11 was

a stark reminder that we have not progressed so far as all that. Maybe

we're on the verge of leaping to the stars, but down here on this old

muddy wad of Big Bang debris we're still trying to write the most difficult

equation of all ... the human equation.

My hope for

you and yours, and for me and mine, is that 2002 is a better year.

Meanwhile,

for all of the human race, I pray for peace, and vision for the future.