These last weeks we have celebrated the truly historic events in the history of mankind of not only getting to another heavenly body, specifically the Moon, but actually landing and walking on it. Those of us who were alive then will never forget it. What a blessing it was to be one of the privileged few to observe a genuine milestone in the history of humankind, at the same time believing that our venture into space had finally gone beyond science fiction and was now a reality.

Suddenly the realistic setting (if not premise) of 2001: A Space Odyssey, which came out the same year, didn't seem so far-fetched. Real space stations, real settlements on the Moon, real manned space travel to different planets within our generation was conceivable; it could happen!

But it has not. And in the grand tradition of science, allow me to make a prediction based on the facts: Sadly, it probably won't.

The last 40 years have been a reality check, to be sure. In this last generation we have discovered some things about ourselves and the universe which, I believe, have put a big fat roadblock in the way of our quest "to boldly go where no man has gone before."

One reality check is that elaborate space projects are stifled by politics and time and money and legalities. Just look at the sisyphean International Space Station. That one spacecraft is still being built at immense expense despite over a decade of international teamwork.

And consider our interest in it all. We are a fickle species to be sure. Our interests wax and wane in very short time spans. For example: Many people know the men who went up on Apollo 11. But this week marks the anniversary of the landing of Apollo 15. Name one of the astronauts, or where they landed, or what they accomplished, even the year they went up. After Apollo 11, interest in the Moon crashed. No public interest means little - if any - government support. Lose that and your project is doomed.

Another problem: Today we know a lot more about our solar system than we did back then, and our neighborhood, it seems, is a disk of death. Mercury, Venus, the "gas giants," their moons - most all are off limits for us. They are lethal. But what about Mars?

Space travel to even that closest, "friendliest" planet is a logistics nightmare. Cramming a handful of people into a small capsule for nearly a year just to get there poses profound physiological and psychological problems. Imagine attempting to get beyond our solar system!

The list goes on. Understand that I don't like this. I dreamed of going to the Moon when I was a kid; I still do. I enjoy the interplanetary travel in movies like Star Wars and its genre (providing there's a good plot!). But when we come down to it, it is still science fiction.

To be sure we are meant to move, explore, venture laterally across the surface of our privileged home. But I have a bad feeling that going up, up and away ain't happening.

Still, it would be cool.