>Why is space exploration so gay now?

because space organizations are not organizing in good coordination

all we need is a good leader,constant funding and more people to collaborate (even the general population should help)

>Will we ever see a resurgence of super huge super expensive projects that capture the imagination of an entire planet

probably would happen in 2036 when apophis is confirmed to crash into earth

>>7944316
>Will we ever see a resurgence of super huge super expensive projects that capture the imagination of an entire planet
First we'd need to start paying for them again.

>>7944316
Don't pretend it wasn't fucking gay back then.
Building giant penises that jizz fire doesn't sound all too straight to me.

>>7944316
We've still got the super huge super expensive projects. The shuttle and ISS weren't really cheaper than Apollo.

To understand why Apollo was a big deal, you have to realize how amazing it was for spaceflight to be happening at all, and how horrifying the implications were.

Apollo 11 was in 1969. Friendship 7 was in 1962. Vostok 1 was in 1961. Sputnik 1 flew in 1957. RDS-1 1949. Hiroshima was in 1945.

Imagine it was today. First man on the moon: 2016.

Leading up to it:
First destruction of a city by one bomb: 1992. (more recent than the Gulf War)
>at least no one else has it

A nation other than the USA gets the bomb: 1996. (Windows 95, internet becoming popular)
>well, they're all the way on the other side of the world, we can still shoot their bombers down

First rocket launch to orbit, 2004. (fresher than 9/11)
>that's still too small to carry a nuke, for now...

First man in orbit, 2008. (newer than iPhones)
>that is a clear capability to destroy any city on Earth at will

First American in orbit, 2009.
>at least we can do it to them, too

Rocket to the moon today!
>this proves we can build more, better missiles! we caught up and pulled ahead! U! S! A! U! S! A!

Their generation's iPhone was their generation's Iran inventing the nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missile.

Of course, by the time people were actually landing on the moon, the public was already a little bored of the idea, like we're a little bored of smartphones.

>>7944316
There is not Soviet Union to compete.