I think people tend to romanticize old technology because it did so much with so little. My dad always makes fun of these people by saying "They don't build 'em like they used to: They build 'em better."

I don't entirely agree with his sentiment but it's still for the most part true. I have no doubt that, given a proper budget and mandate, NASA could once again build a heavy lift vehicle like the Saturn V. However, I think we've lost a certain elegance that was present in that age. Sure, our technology is much more capable now, but it's definitely not as 'charming', for lack of a better word.

I think the point that I'm trying to get at is this: I used to commute on NJTransit, and every day I would get into crappy "modern" brushed aluminum railcars with a freight locomotive pulling them. And one day, while I was waiting, a refurbished Pennsylvania Railroad train rolled through with its beautiful shiny brown paintjob, elegant railcars, and even people in period garb. I have no idea what it was for - it didn't stop at our station - but it was much more pretty than anything we see today. My dad was there too, and for once he actually said without irony, "They don't build 'em like they used to."

But who knows, maybe fifty years from now people will see us the same way we see them.