Columbia
I guess I should say something about this weekend's tragedy. I'll make it brief.
Both Deb & I were at JSC (me Lockheed, she Singer Link) at the inception of the Shuttle era. I got to witness the first landing at Edwards AFB. We were still in Houston at the time of the Challenger disaster. I have mixed emotions about the manned space program.
The argument that the small scientific return of manned flight doesn't justify the risk, doesn't take into consideraton all the secret missions. Not that I think those missions were good ones - it's just that there's a lot to Shuttle operatons the public does not know about. NASA is a civilian aeronautics agency, only some of the time.
But the main thing about the manned program that will always stay with me is the awe it inspires. In everyone that works in the program, in the visitors to the Centers, in everyone.
I used to do engineering support at JSC, for the Space Sciences & Applications Division. Owen Garriott was the head of the division, as well as one of the first astronaut-scientists. His first flight was on Skylab in '73; which set the record, at the time, for longest duration in space. He was an inspiring and thoughtful guy. His passion for exploration was so contagious. Risk was accepted; the thrill - 'the priviledge' - as Owen used to say - of experiencing the unknown, trumped all.
Is manned space flight 'worth' it? I honestly can't say. I believe it is. But it's hard to quantify - how do you measure things like awe and inspiration? Does music have value? All I know is I'd rather my tax dollars went to space research, than the war machine.
I guess I should say something about this weekend's tragedy. I'll make it brief.
Both Deb & I were at JSC (me Lockheed, she Singer Link) at the inception of the Shuttle era. I got to witness the first landing at Edwards AFB. We were still in Houston at the time of the Challenger disaster. I have mixed emotions about the manned space program.
The argument that the small scientific return of manned flight doesn't justify the risk, doesn't take into consideraton all the secret missions. Not that I think those missions were good ones - it's just that there's a lot to Shuttle operatons the public does not know about. NASA is a civilian aeronautics agency, only some of the time.
But the main thing about the manned program that will always stay with me is the awe it inspires. In everyone that works in the program, in the visitors to the Centers, in everyone.
I used to do engineering support at JSC, for the Space Sciences & Applications Division. Owen Garriott was the head of the division, as well as one of the first astronaut-scientists. His first flight was on Skylab in '73; which set the record, at the time, for longest duration in space. He was an inspiring and thoughtful guy. His passion for exploration was so contagious. Risk was accepted; the thrill - 'the priviledge' - as Owen used to say - of experiencing the unknown, trumped all.
Is manned space flight 'worth' it? I honestly can't say. I believe it is. But it's hard to quantify - how do you measure things like awe and inspiration? Does music have value? All I know is I'd rather my tax dollars went to space research, than the war machine.
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