Space. It was referred to by Star Trek as “The Undiscovered Country”. Sadly, the dream that was space has fallen flat. Yesterday, NASA officials announced that the entire shuttle fleet will be grounded again. Oddly enough if you visit the NASA homepage, there is still a blazoning image that announces “THE RETURN TO FLIGHT!”. Two years of checking and rechecking, of designing and redesigning have been wasted. All because one small piece of foam.
Yes, that foam doomed Columbia three years ago. Yes, there still is a danger. But, space flight is risk. You risk that a piece of foam isn’t going to hit you, or that an O-ring is going to be alright. The entire United States Space Program has been calculated risk. What is different about today? The Shuttle flew for over a decade in active service. During that time we lost two shuttles, and a handful of brave souls. The crew that went up after Challenger must have been scared to their bones, but they went up because it is what they loved and dreamed to do. We need manned space flight. We need the shuttle streaking towards the heavens, even if it is shaking tiles and foam off during its assention.
Of course, the Shuttle fleet is scheduled to decommission in 2010. In the infinite wisdom of the Bush Administration, we may well just shelve the entire program. There is more than just idle pride riding on the Shuttle Program. Do we forget the Shuttle is the backbone of the International Space Station? That dream may very well die too. All because of a simple piece of insulation.
How many incidents did the Apollo program have? We all know about Apollo 13, which was portrayed in the Tom Hanks movie. But we forget about Apollo 10, where a shorted wire caused an electrical fire on the launch pad, incinerating the crew alive. Did America falter? We knew the risks back then. We mourned as a nation, and moved on, knowing that the benefits outweigh the risks. We all mourned during Challenger and Columbia. We moved on then too. We went back into space, into the legacy that the U.S. help create.
In a time of global terrorism and wars of pacification in Iraq and Afghanistan, NASA’s funding is dangerously short. How many more bombs can be dropped for each shuttle that isn’t launched? Yes, it’s oversimplification. But war’s cost money. And so do launching spacecraft. But so do Bradley fighting vehicles and AC-110 Spectre Gunships.
In all of human history, we have always been innovators. We have always had a sense of wonder about the stars. Now, that sense of wonder has been tamed and put on a leash, like a common junkyard dog. When the Shuttle first launched, thousands of kids in gray classrooms across the world dreamed of being up there someday. I have a friend who quit a very good piloting job to enlist in the Air Force, so one day she might fly in space. What hope does she have now? Hell, she’s in Iraq right now, doging small arms fire while taxing.
She takes risks too. Everyday. Space travel is much the same. Ten thousand things could go wrong. And for 112 Space Shuttle flights everything went fine. That beats the record for the Apollo program. That’s pretty decent in terms of space flight. But no longer. No more will we see a Shuttle on a launch pad. The dream is dead. The rest will wither away. The dream we had, is dead