If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
The Blog
After dealing with a buildup of static electricity and a few other minor problems, an announcement suddenly flashed across the main TV screen -- an unknown object had been detected, on a collision course with the Spacecraft!
The Space Shuttle has been the most successful space launch system ever by far. In 30 years we launched the Space Shuttle 135 times. Today more than half of the just over 500 people who have ever orbited the earth, have done so aboard one of the five space shuttles.
Will we look back and ask ourselves whether the decision to abandon space was a wise decision? Or will historians look back and identify this decision as a textbook example of when America sacrificed long-term strategic goals for short-term interests.
When the injury is deep, healing doesn't happen in a scene or a moment, but in oh-so-many moments over quite some time... like these.
The American Apollo program was one of the greatest events in all of human history. By turning our backs on JFK's achievement, we have consented to national humiliation and national decline.
As with baseball, the pride and achievement embodied by the space program has now become part of the American fabric. Mr. Obama or Mr. Romney, challenge us again, define what is next for America in Space?
Although space shuttles inspired generations of space-gazers and contributed greatly to our national pride and identity, there are many misconceptions about the space shuttles and their missions.
After eating lunch with the center staff in the Aeronautics room, they let me try a flight simulator. I managed to take off from LaGuardia Airport, navigate to another airport, and land, all without crashing, something I felt very proud of given my general lack of video-game skills.
"The thing I want people to take away is the example of international collaboration that created and built the space station. It's just awe-inspiring."
Nine years ago today, I'd been visiting Washington D.C. with a group from my church when we'd heard that the Space Shuttle Columbia had been lost on reentry.
Even though I was negative seven at the time of the accident, I salute the Challenger 7, and the opportunities they gave my generation. Because they were flying for me, too.
President Obama's attempts to reform NASA have been gestures in the right direction, but he has been tepid in this, as in so many other things. But a President Gingrich might be able to get real money for space.
After the presentation, we were allowed to ask Dr. Patrick questions. Mine was simple: "Since you're so involved with creating new spacecraft, what about the future of human spaceflight most excites you?"
Let's use the $38 billion Congress wants to flush down the toilet of history to save NASA by funding useful programs that will actually open the frontier and get the agency back to exploring almost right away.
Walking papers in hand, laid-off workers must return to divorce court, plead for relief in their alimony payments, and hope against hope that it's coming. It helps to show up with a lawyer, and it helps to expect the worst.
