In an address to the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Science, Technology, and Space, author James Michener asserted that "it is extremely difficult to keep a human life or the life of a nation moving forward with enough energy and commitment to lift it into the next cycle of experience . . . . There are moments in history when challenges occur of such a compelling nature that to miss them is to miss the whole meaning of an epoch. Space is such a challenge."