Non-Trivial Accomplishments

I agree with Dean's most recent post, that we need to continue to work toward manned exploration of space, but as I note in my comment there, unmanned exploration is also important.

I just came across a post on another blog pointing out that what we have done in the last forty years is non-trivial...

What the US didn't do in space since the end of Apollo:

Put a human on the surface of another planet.

What the US did do in space since the end of Apollo:

Place a variety of advanced telescopes in space

Sent fly-by missions to every planet.

Put orbiters around Earth, the Moon, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.

Put landers in or on Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Titan

....and that's less than half the list.

Followup: Commenter Chuck makes an important point in that these were not strictly US accomplishments, and I did not intend to claim them as such. As I respond to him, even Apollo 11 was not strictly a US accomplishment, but required international cooperation... and these days, I think sharing the costs, benefits, and awesomeness all round benefits everyone.

Followup 2: Ah, but I just noticed that the author of the above post was claiming them as US accomplishments. I guess someone stands corrected, but I'm not sure if it's him or me.