Don’t forget what makes U.S. great

America’s political rancor and government dysfunction too often disguise better news: We continue to live in an era of astonishing technological advances. One was on display Sunday as SpaceX successfully landed its Super Heavy booster rocket with the help of “metal chopsticks.”
This is some feat of engineering. This Super Heavy booster is taller than a 20-story building and lifted an unmanned Starship spacecraft on its fifth test flight.
The booster was caught in midair by enormous metal arms, the so-called chopsticks that are designed to prevent a hard landing. As the video of the landing shows, this isn’t like catching a lazy fly ball in center field.
Meanwhile, the Starship spacecraft was guided to a splash down on target in the Indian Ocean and won’t be retrieved. The goal is eventually to return the spacecraft safely to dry land. The Starship is the vehicle expected to take a manned U.S. mission back to the moon in 2026.
Reusable heavy booster rockets will make space travel more affordable and frequent, and it is essential if humanity is going to explore the solar system. This is the vision of Elon Musk, who founded SpaceX, and it one day could save the human race. The company has already helped to revive the U.S. space program and defense satellite launches.
This is a triumph for Mr. Musk’s entrepreneurship. It’s true that SpaceX is a government contractor these days, but that isn’t because the federal bureaucracy is thrilled by the partnership. The Pentagon has little choice if it wants to achieve its security and satellite intelligence goals.
Space travel is merely one of the wonders of our age of discovery. Advances in genomics are leading to progress in biotechnology and the fight against cancer and other deadly diseases. Artificial intelligence is producing new efficiencies across the economy.
There is peril as well as promise with new technologies, which need to be accompanied by ethical guardrails.
But they offer hope for longer lives and broader prosperity.
Congratulations to SpaceX for showing that America remains a nation of striving optimists.
The Wall Street Journal