The first moon landing was in 1969. That means everyone over the age of 43 has been brought up with manned space travel all their lives, even older if you count the early LEO missions. It is no big deal to them, any more than aviation was for their parents' generation.

It may be hard for people hanging out at this website to accept it, but the vast majority of Americans think football is more important than space travel. They may not answer that way if asked outright, but if you watch their behavior, there is no doubt that's how they feel. I think government deserves much credit for the non-military space program it has managed to keep going in spite of public apathy.

I was a space groupie as a kid, I kept up with developments and I knew it was coming. Sputnik went up when I was ten years old, and I was 21 when Apollo landed on the moon. I watched Armstrong and his crew take off from my house in Tampa, just a white contrail against the eastern sky, but I saw him go! And I wept with joy when he stepped on the lunar surface.

That people don't feel that way anymore may be perfectly understandable, but I can't understand it.