Jim Oberg reminds me that, had he lived, Yuri Gagarin would have been seventy years old today. Here's a piece that Jim wrote about him, and his significance, a few years ago.

Thank you for the Gagarin link, Rand.

Reading it I see Oberg writes:

>> Gagarin's flight marked the most frantic lap in the space race, a competition that taught us lessons about space projects that are forgotten only at our peril. As with any military offensive, it is the short term concentration of forces and their coordination in pursuit of a well defined goal that leads to success.

Space projects that worked - Vostok, Apollo, Viking, even the first shuttle mission--were characterized by a crash style over a short span of years, were staffed by the best people drawn from many different backgrounds and were success-oriented. Space projects that have not worked (or are not working) lack these features.

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As we enter into the era of the OKeefe/Bush vision, are these words of Jim Oberg still relevant or are they now obsolete? How does Project Constellation measure up by this standard?

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