"The 20th Century was the century of Aviation and the century of Globalization. The next century will be the century of Space"
About this Quote
“The next century will be the century of Space” is less starry-eyed prophecy than a wager about the next platform. The subtext is classic postwar American techno-optimism: if flight made the planet legible and interconnected, space will make the planet optional. Greatbatch isn’t promising moon bases for their own sake; he’s implying a new layer of capability that rewrites everything beneath it: communications, navigation, earth observation, military advantage, energy, materials, maybe even sovereignty. Space becomes the next “invisible utility,” like electricity or the internet, that people stop noticing precisely because it’s everywhere.
Context matters. Greatbatch lived through the Wright-to-Apollo arc and helped build the miniaturized, high-reliability electronics culture that made both aviation and spaceflight practical. So this reads as both forecast and self-justification: the people who turn impossible environments into routine ones don’t just invent devices, they quietly draft the future’s operating system.
Quote Details
| Topic | Science |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite | Cite this Quote |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Greatbatch, Wilson. (n.d.). The 20th Century was the century of Aviation and the century of Globalization. The next century will be the century of Space. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-20th-century-was-the-century-of-aviation-and-73654/
Chicago Style
Greatbatch, Wilson. "The 20th Century was the century of Aviation and the century of Globalization. The next century will be the century of Space." FixQuotes. Accessed February 2, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-20th-century-was-the-century-of-aviation-and-73654/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"The 20th Century was the century of Aviation and the century of Globalization. The next century will be the century of Space." FixQuotes, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-20th-century-was-the-century-of-aviation-and-73654/. Accessed 2 Feb. 2026.
