{"id":4104,"date":"2026-07-14T04:35:52","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T04:35:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=4104"},"modified":"2026-07-14T04:35:52","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T04:35:52","slug":"before-you-dismiss-elon-musk-remember-the-wright-brothers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=4104","title":{"rendered":"Before you dismiss Elon Musk, remember the Wright brothers"},"content":{"rendered":"
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OPINION:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Some people are fascinated by Elon Musk\u2019s vision of building a permanent settlement on the moon within the next decade \u2014 and later establishing a self-sustaining city on Mars.<\/p>\n

Read more Trump should tell Russians the truth about Putin\u2019s war<\/a><\/p>\n

Jeff Bezos has spoken about gradually moving heavy industry from Earth into space. Several companies are already working on space-based data centers.<\/p>\n

Others dismiss all these ideas as science fiction.<\/p>\n

I understand that skepticism, but history teaches us to be careful before declaring bold visions impossible.<\/p>\n

Dreams can sometimes seem distant, but they are occasionally much closer than we think. On Oct. 7, 1903, Samuel P. Langley attempted to launch his Great Aerodrome aircraft from a catapult ramp on a houseboat on the Potomac River. The aircraft immediately tilted after takeoff. Its nose dipped sharply, and it crashed into the water, sustaining significant damage.<\/p>\n

In a derisive editorial two days later, The New York Times referred to the failed attempt at flight as a \u201cridiculous fiasco\u201d and made a bleak prediction: \u201c[It might be assumed that the flying machine which will really fly might be evolved by the combined and continuous efforts of mathematicians and mechanics in from one million to ten million years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just two months later, on Dec. 17, 1903, the Wright brothers achieved the first successful powered flight in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Initially, The New York Times did not report on this milestone. It was not until 1906 that the newspaper published a detailed article about the Wright brothers\u2019 accomplishment.<\/p>\n

As private individuals, the Wrights had less than $1,000 at their disposal, equivalent to approximately $30,000 today. University professor Langley had $70,000, about $2.5 million in today\u2019s terms. More than two-thirds of his funding came from the U.S. War Department.<\/p>\n

The Wrights were fortunate that there was no government agency at the time to impose strict rules and regulations on exactly how they should build and operate their aircraft. George Nield, who was responsible for regulating commercial space activities at the Federal Aviation Administration for many years, once said: \u201cI think the difference is that the government didn\u2019t design, build, own, and operate the Wright brothers\u2019 aircraft. Think about how aviation would\u2019ve developed if that had been the scenario! That\u2019s really what we were faced with for space in the early years.\u201d<\/p>\n

The American Robert Goddard, often called the father of modern rocketry, was the first to successfully launch a liquid-fueled rocket. He introduced numerous technical innovations, including staged rockets and guidance systems.<\/p>\n

Through his theoretical work and practical experiments in the 1920s and 1930s, he laid crucial foundations for modern spaceflight.<\/p>\n

Goddard was a visionary, much like Elon Musk today. At age 16, he immersed himself in H.G. Wells\u2019 \u201cThe War of the Worlds\u201d and Garrett P. Serviss\u2019 sequel, \u201cEdison\u2019s Conquest of Mars.\u201d At 23, he wrote: \u201cJust as in the sciences we have learned that we are too ignorant safely to pronounce anything impossible. \u2026 The dream of yesterday is the hope of today and the reality of tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more America cannot survive without moral boundaries<\/a><\/p>\n

At 31, he outlined his ideas on spaceflight in the essay \u201cThe Navigation of Interplanetary Space.\u201d He proposed that the moon could become a manufacturing site of hydrogen and oxygen for missions to other planets and described solar energy as a future source of power for interplanetary travel.<\/p>\n

He argued: \u201cFrom an economic point of view, the navigation of interplanetary space must be effected to ensure the continuance of the race.\u201d His motivation closely resembles Mr. Musk\u2019s argument today: Humanity should become a multiplanetary species to ensure its long-term survival.<\/p>\n

Goddard envisioned a future in which people would travel from planet to planet, producing rocket fuel from lunar resources and using metals from celestial bodies to build new spacecraft.<\/p>\n

Still, Goddard was more than a visionary. He was also an engineer and scientist. In 1919, he published \u201cMethod of Reaching Extreme Altitudes,\u201d becoming the first scientist to demonstrate mathematically that a rocket could overcome Earth\u2019s gravity. He also provided the first scientific proof that rockets could operate in the vacuum of space.<\/p>\n

Yet he became an object of public ridicule. In January 1920, The New York Times mocked him: \u201cProfessor Goddard \u2026 does not know the relation of action to reaction. \u2026 Of course, he only seems to lack the knowledge ladled out daily in high schools.\u201d<\/p>\n

It took almost half a century for the newspaper to acknowledge its mistake. On July 17, 1969, one day after the launch of the first manned mission to the moon, The Times quietly published a correction: \u201cFurther investigation and experimentation have confirmed the findings of Isaac Newton in the 17th century, and it is now definitely established that a rocket can function in a vacuum as well as in an atmosphere.\u201d The newspaper concluded simply: \u201cThe Times regrets the error.\u201d<\/p>\n

History also shows that the public consistently underestimates technological progress. In 1950, the Allensbach Institute asked a representative sample of West Germans whether they believed that humans would reach another celestial body, such as the moon, within the next 50 years. Only 1 in 4 believed it would happen.<\/p>\n

Even in 1965, just four years before Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, only a narrow majority \u2014 53% \u2014 believed such a journey was possible.<\/p>\n

Time and again, the greatest breakthroughs have arrived much sooner than experts, journalists and the public believed possible. The future has a habit of surprising us.<\/p>\n

Read more Senators call for passage of Russia sanctions bill to honor Lindsey Graham<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2022 Rainer Zitelmann is the author of the book \u201cNew Space Capitalism.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some people are fascinated by Elon Musk’s vision of building a permanent settlement on the moon within the next decade — and later establishing a self-sustaining city on Mars.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1771,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,30],"tags":[51,2447,642,2052],"class_list":["post-4104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commentary","category-opinion","tag-elon-musk","tag-robert-goddard","tag-the-new-york-times","tag-wright-brothers"],"yoast_head":"\nBefore you dismiss Elon Musk, remember the Wright brothers - Home Buyer Relocation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=4104\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Before you dismiss Elon Musk, remember the Wright brothers - 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