A long time ago, I read an article entitled "Time for Tom Swift." I think it was by G. Harry Stine; it was in either Astounding or Analog and the picture in my head is of yellowing pulp, so I think it must have been Astounding. If anyone remembers it more clearly or even better can point me to a copy, I'll be most appreciative, but that's not actually the point.
Not even I am old enough to remember the original Tom Swift books, but I grew up on books about his son, Tom Swift, Jr. In each book, Tom would invent something not very likely but plausible for science fiction purposes, from giant atomic-powered VTOL airplanes to radio contact with mysterious aliens to floating highways over the Amazonian jungles, which would lead to adventures with great risk but no one permanently damaged.
Harry Stine's article suggested that the unwillingness, even then, for NASA and the Department of Defense to think outside the box, move away from Willy Ley and Werner von Braun, and innovate more grandly were impeding space flight.
We might argue that the Apollo Program did that to some extent, but after Apollo, space took a much more bureaucratic turn that gave us the Space Shuttle and then ISS and Artemis and the Space Launch System (SLS), culminating in SLS, which is years overdue and billions over budget, including a launch tower that cost more than the Burj Khalifa but is itself wildly overdue as well as being wildly over budget.
But then along came Tom Swift, craftily using the alias "Elon Musk."
I asked Grok (because what would be a better source?) for a summary of Elon's achievements, and got this: "Elon Musk's endeavors are marked by ambitious goals, with a focus on innovation that spans multiple industries, aiming to solve some of humanity's biggest challenges."
There are a ton of other things, but since we started talking about space flight, let's concentrate on that.
One of the most unusual and incredible videos of today's historical catch by SpaceX. https://t.co/9cz1givCLU
— Beth Bridges Brandle (@BethBridges) October 14, 2024
This is a quote that deserves more attention.
— (((Charlie Martin))) (@chasrmartin) October 13, 2024
"A sky scraper went into space, returned to earth, and parallel parked" - Sylvia Smith
If you squint a little, you can even see how that resembles Tom Swift, Jr.'s rocket ship.
Now, I don't know if Elon ever read the Tom Swift Jr books. What's important is that Tom and Elon share an ethos: problems are solvable, goals are achievable, and progress is desirable. He sees it, in fact, as a matter of survival of the species. I co-wrote a series of articles about software development for StarLink at the Stack Overflow Blog in 2021. I certainly encourage anyone interested in large-scale software development to read the articles, but something I don't think made it into the article, but which impressed me, is that as well as making the internet available worldwide, StarLink is also meant to fund the development of the interplanetary transportation network to get humans to Mars.
That's real Tom Swift stuff. Musk is busily inventing the future.
It is important in this often difficult and troubled world for there to be things that also inspire and make you feel great to be part of humanity
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 14, 2024
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