I am a space geek. A massive space geek. In sixth grade, I saved up the money I got for delivering our HOA newsletter and bought a telescope, which I used to look at the moon every night, until my dad yelled at me to get off of the roof. I talked my mom into pulling me out of class to drive 60 miles east to Mojave to watch the space shuttle land. We were so far away that it was a white blur distorted by miles of heat coming off the desert floor, but I loved every second of it. I ditched work to see SpaceShipOne take its two trips into space. On Friday, weather permitting, the longest program in the short history of spaceflight is coming to a close. Why am I not unhappy about that?
Because it was a waste of time and energy and resources. In 13 days, we will celebrate the 42nd anniversary of the single greatest scientific and exploration achievement that man has ever achieved. We put people on the surface of another celestial body. By the end of the Apollo Program, 12 people had walked on the moon, and the world had grown bored with it. The next logical step was to go farther. Mars. Venus is actually closer, but the heat and pressure would kill you before you landed. Mars it would have to be. Vice President Spiro Agnew was the head of a committee that oversaw the objectives of NASA. After watching Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walk on the moon, he exclaimed, “Now let’s go to Mars.” However, his boss, Richard Nixon, was dealing with the quagmire that was Vietnam, quickly talked him out of that plan. Two months later, in September of 1969, Agnew’s Space Task Group announced “development of a new space transportation capability.” A reusable craft that would reduce the expense of sending people into space. In 1972, as the United States cancelled the three remaining Apollo missions, plans for the Space Transportation System (STS) were being finalized. In 1976, Enterprise was the first shuttle to fly, but not in space. On April 12, 1981, Space Shuttle Columbia was the first of the shuttle fleet to make it into orbit. 11 years and almost 8 months after sending people to walk on the fucking moon, we sent people back to where John Glenn had been nearly 20 years before.
And that’s where we stayed. For over 30 years, the majority of my life, we have sent mission after mission into low earth orbit to launch satellites, repair satellites, and conduct experiments, mostly on other astronauts. The drama of spaceflight had swayed from Neil Armstrong using almost the last of his fuel to wrestle the controls of the lander away from the computer so his craft wouldn’t be dashed against a collection of boulders to watching the crazy things that zero gravity does to hair. Here’s a thing: It’s not even zero gravity in the space shuttle. They’re in a perpetual free-fall. If I may quote from Dennis Overbye’s fantastic article on the shuttle program, “Why were we there? I recall one newspaper reporter asking out loud at one launching before answering himself. “We’re on a death watch,” he said.”
Two times that happened. On January 28, 1986 when the Challenger exploded over Florida, and February 1, 2003 when Columbia broke apart over the southwestern United States. The day of Columbia’s launch, I was in Orlando and my hotel windows faced Cape Canaveral. I watched the distant orbiter climb into the sky. It was the only shuttle launch I have ever seen. With each instance, there was discussion about how manned spaceflight could be finished. It was too risky. Too many people had died. since the early 60s, we have been placing people on top of massive structures designed to explode and propel them into the harshest environment imaginable. In that time, 17 people have perished . 17 out of hundreds. And we’re putting them in space. Frankly, I’m surprised more people haven’t died.
The shuttle program does have its high points. The launch, and repair of the Hubble are the foremost. But our biggest mistake was making the shuttle program the primary focus of the space program. We dropped the ball. I don’t blame NASA. I guarantee you nobody at NASA was against going to Mars. I blame the Executive and Legislative branches. The President can only do what Congress will give him money to do. And they weren’t giving him money to take us to the Moon. They gave him money so that we could spend decades dicking around in low earth orbit. We went from being years behind the Soviets to putting people on our nearest neighbor in a little over eight years. Now, we have footsteps coming up fast behind. The first person to set foot on Mars could very well speak Chinese. I don’t have any sort of nationalistic pride in us being the first; I think that science is a worldwide endeavor. I find it amazingly sad that the nation with the most resources and talent didn’t take that and further the cause of exploration. As the most powerful nation in the world, I feel that is one of our duties. And we haven’t done anything about it in the last 30 years.
Photo: Flickr
