Space Flight May Mature Us as a Civilization

In all the history of mankind, there will be only one generation that will be first to explore the Solar System, one generation for which, in childhood, the planets are distant and indistinct discs moving through the night sky, and for which, in old age, the planets are places, diverse new worlds in the course of exploration. There will be a time in our future history when the Solar System will be explored and inhabited. To them, and to all who come after us, the present moment will be a piv...