As someone who grew up with the NASA manned space program as a beacon of innovation, strength, and hope for the future, it is a sad day for me, and I’m sure for many others.
While at ICCC6, I had the honor of once again meeting Dr. Harrison Schmitt, Apollo 17 astronaut and the only geologist to ever walk the moon.
I made sure that my children met him, and he surprised me the next day by offering two signed photographs. A most gracious man and I offer my sincere thanks. He, like many others, must feel simultaneously a sense of pride and of emptiness today.
My family and I watched this final launch this morning, I made it mandatory to witness history, even if only on television.
et tu NASA?
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Related news from Aviation Week:
Lawmakers Seek To Kill Webb Space Telescope
A House panel recommends killing the Northrop Grumman-built James Webb Space Telescope, calling the Hubble successor “billions of dollars over budget and plagued by poor management.”
Overall, the House Appropriations Commerce, Justice, Science subcommittee backs funding NASA at $16.8 billion in fiscal 2012, a cut of $1.9 billion to President Barack Obama’s budget request, according to a committee statement. The subcommittee is scheduled to approve its draft of the spending bill that also covers the Commerce and Justice departments on July 7. The bill still must pass in the full House and be reconciled with a Senate version before becoming law.
House Appropriations Committee Chairman Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) defends the committee’s decisions. “Given this time of fiscal crisis, it is also important that Congress make tough decisions to cut programs where necessary to give priority to programs with broad national reach that have the most benefit to the American people,” Rogers says.
NASA’s future space telescope has run into its share of trouble, going $1.5 billion over budget and seeing its launch date slip at least three years.
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Anthony’s comment comparing NASA’s manned space flight program to the dispatch of Columbus is blind to the fact that in 1492, Isabella didn’t have the technology to do the job with unmanned caravels and robots.
The tremendous cost in of building human life support into our space vehicles was totally unnecessary and a dead weight on our progress in space. The one time human presence was needed was the Hubble repair. But for the cost of flying throttle-jockeys, we could have put up a dozen more Hubbles. The much-vaunted International Space Station will fizzle out within the decade without accomplishing anything significant. The manned space adventure was mostly a Cold War propaganda mission that was unnecessary and rather pointless. Good riddance.
REPLY: my goodness, what a sourpuss you are.
With that attitude science exploration of any kind would never get anywhere. Note the /sarc tag which I added since you obviously didn’t get it the first time.
-Anthony
Anthony, your Columbus analogy doesn’t work. Spain didn’t send Columbus out to explore for the grandeur of exploring. His job was very specific and mercantile: to find a more efficient way to get natural resources from the East Indies. NASA’s mission was never that specific, and the benefits (if any) have been accidental.
Gary Swift,
This was a very real worry for me, so I drove my five-year-old boy down to Florida last February to catch the final flight of Discovery. We watched the launch, then examined all the exhibits at the visitor’s center. He was extremely excited about that trip, and continues to talk about “his” shuttle.
I actually got into an argument with his school’s administration over the trip. He was in kindergarten and they thought four days of structured finger-painting and recitation of the alphabet were more important. I insisted that the chance to see one of the most amazing engineering achievements humans have yet accomplished, along with an exposure to the historical perspective on space flight afforded by the visitor’s center could very well spark a strong interest in science and engineering … something which the public school system has demonstrated a woeful inadequacy at. And that’s not to mention the benefits of going on a thousand mile trip and seeing new surroundings. Ultimately, I had no choice but to accept an “unexcused absence” on his school record. That’s okay, he’ll remember those four days far better than any others from kindergarten.
Just like Canada lost their brightest minds when the Avro Arrow program was abruptly canceled. Those skilled engineers when to NASA to develop the Apollo program. Maybe it is time they come back to Canada to continue their dreams.
Well, there’s DARPA. They pioneered this one communications medium, I forget the name of it, but it’s really cool. DARPA still exists, still comes up with new challenges. NASA is definitely not the only game in town that has a positive ROI.
The integrated circuit award eventually went to TI, but several companies were working on it. TI had better lawyers. And it happened before the Apollo program started. The loss of two orbiters was mostly due to bad management. They knew they had an “o” ring problem, but since they had no catastrophic failures, back burner. And management overruled the rules about launch temperature (it was too cold that day) I was at KSC two days prior to Challenger, have photos, and looking at the weather, decided not to stay, as it would be too cold. NASA also knew about the foam problem. In 2000, they switched to non-CFC foam on the main tank and saw a 10-fold increase in damage to the orbiter. But, nothing catastrophic, so they stayed with it. Hubble was an equal screw up, used the wrong mirror (to keep a certain Senator happy) and only cost $1 billion+ to fix. It wasn’t their money. And the ISS? The astros spend most of their time fixing and little hard science. The Super Collider would have done far more for far less. JWST is on the rocks, friend worked on that before cutbacks. So, NASA is limited to politically correct outreach. Sad, people in space can do a lot more than robots, (numerous arguments about that) but cost a heck of a lot more. A good geologist could have done what Spirit and Opportunity have done on Mars in less than a week. At probably 400x the cost.
I obviously have mixed feelings about all this. And very little confidence in the private sector picking up the slack. It ain’t easy getting up there. Goddard knew that 80+ years ago. SpaceX may succeed, but I won’t buy a ticket. End of an era.
NASA is its own worst enemy. For years it has stood in the way of private exploitation of space. There are plenty of companies with the capability of launching men into space, but NASA continues to put up roadblocks to that being done. The best thing that can happen is for NASA to go back to exploration and research and get out of the way of private enterprise. Private enterprise can launch satellites and material into orbit more efficiently and for a lot less money than NASA will ever be able to.
Also, the Air Force has successfully launched a robotic space shuttle several times for extended work in space. The robot is supposedly completely autonomous so it can carry out its work secretly, but I expect there is still a bit of communication and control from the ground. The robotic shuttle was originally developed by NASA, but the Air Force took it over when NASA decided to drop the program. Astronauts are so much sexier, and so much more expensive.
This is rather funny, but a good example of how government bureaucracies work.
This is what was proposed to the politicians of Nixon’s administration. This is how “simple” it was proposed it would be to service the Space Shuttle for the next launch. This is how they sold it to congress, the president, etc…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:SpaceShuttleGroundProcessingVision.jpg
And this is reality:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:SpaceShuttleGroundProcessingActual.jpg
Yeah, aerospace contractors can be quite dishonest with themselves when government funding is at stake.
The Shuttle Program has done us a great deal of good. We are encouraged to know that its work is now continued by entrepreneurs in the spirit of the Wright Bros and Henry Ford. One example of the astonishing new world ushered in by NASA’s pioneering work is –
NASA’s Chief Scientist Dennis Bushnell has recently acknowledged the number 1 energy development as the LANR-CF physics typified by Andrea Rossi’s E-Cat and Randall Mills’ Hydrino (fast H) black light catalyst.
This of course rewires the entire energy picture – largely obviating fossil fuels and even sustainable alternatives like wind and solar (though they have their niche.) Methanol/alcohol via CTL and biomass will remain transitional liquid fuels for hybrids and heavy lift applications like trucking. As will biodiesel and bio-jetfuel. But light duty transport will now transition ever faster to EV with E-storage systems being the biggest bottleneck.
E-Cat-like generators will rapidly replace all sources of electric generation starting with home CHP distributed energy systems. Coal fired power plants, radiative nuclear fission, hydro, wind and solar will become a tiny sliver of the overall energy generation field. The sustainables like hydro, wind and solar will retain some integration with new distribution energy. Big hydro, nuke, and wind projects as of right now go on the shelf – most likely permanently.
Essentially the energy game is now over. What remains is to see who will clean up by producing and distributing the new energy products. Centralized power is, like climate change – dead. As we have said MANY times in these posts, energy is abundant throughout the universe and we are now to make use of it.
It is a new world. A world of abundant energy able to create and manipulate matter on an unprecedented scale. It is not to be abused. And it is not to be used as a reason to neglect growing population issues. Population is the number one issue on planet Earth. To address it, some hard changes in old world faith traditions need be made. Starting with Judeo-Christian/Muslim taboos on death, sex and contraception.
Welcome to the new world. There is plenty for everyone. But let’s have some elbow room please!
I was debriefing from an ASW training flight from Cecil Field and the first shuttle was about to land. We stopped the debrief and all watched as it landed. At the time Cecil Field was a back up/emergency landing field for the shuttle. My second tour in S-3A Vikings from Cecil found me on a training mission in a warning area off the east coast of Florida during the launch of Challenger. We watched it rise then explode. As the only air asset available we offered to be the SAR commander for the immediate area to start the search phase. We were told to hold then told no they would handle it. My last command was in Bermuda and as CTG 84.3 we were tasked with having a P-3 Orion on alert for down range SAR. I was there for over 3 years. We did a fair number of STS alert briefs. Several of the shuttle commanders came to Bermada to give talks so I have met a few. The treasure of my lodge is the father of one of the shuttle pilots Charles Hobaugh.
Uh, what? How did DC politics enter into the curve of glass? This has to be a good story.
I remember watching the first launch…
It’s the end of a chapter, but not the book – in fact we’re barely into Volume 1. Long-term, we need to have a permanent manned presence in the wider solar system, if only to distribute our eggs among many baskets and guard ourselves against extinction by meteor. By and by, we’ll populate Earth orbit, Luna, the Lagrange points, Mars, the asteroid belt and further afield… There’s enough lebensraum, material and energy out there to keep us reasonably satisfied for the next few centuries at least! Gerard K O’Neill showed us the way in his book The High Frontier – published in 1976. Bootstrapping ourselves up out of the bottleneck of Terra’s gravity well is the hard bit – traditionally it has been expensive and dangerous. But in the very long term, I think that is the way we’ll go, as the rewards will be too great to ignore.
There should always be room for a few white elephants (or what’s a heaven for?).
Sad because we have no follow on.
Also, being a Royal, she didn’t give a wink if she killed some less-than-pauper sailors in the process. There was no concern for the loss of sailors lives, so the example isn’t so wrong.
The sate of climate science
http://spectator.org/archives/2011/07/08/global-warming-tales-and-tail
published paper sulfur emmisions cause global warming!
Theyve just published a paper saying its causes cooling!
R. Gates says:
July 8, 2011 at 12:02 pm
“”””It certainly is the end of an era. 50 years from now, or even 20 years from now, it will be interesting to see which nation has the most numbers of their citizens in space and/or on the moon and Mars. My guess, China by a wide margain . . . “”””
= = = =
R. Gates,
I remember late in his life SF author Isaac Asimov also suggested it will be the Chinese that colonize space first. I guess that has some plausibility. Yet China has future civil unrest problems that are just barely boiling underneath the surface, waiting to surface because it remains as a totalitarian state playing at mimicking a modern capitalistic/democratic state. Transition to democracy that will likely occur with some civil violence in the near future will disrupt their space ambitions somewhat or stop them entirely for a long time.
It is easy to be disappointed with the state of America, I guess, but I still find American spirit survives and is healthy. Get rid of government intervention and away we go. Perk up!!!
John
The science channel is paying homage to NASA today, starting with Mercury missions and ending with the last Shuttle. There goes my day. I’ve seen the Mercury capsule, to think of that tiny thing strapped to tons of liquid oxygen and kerosene!! Talk about cajones.:)
Apollo and Hubble were wonderful achievements, but our involvement in the International Space Station has been nothing more than an expensive “outreach” to Russia with very little science. Obama’s “outreach” to the middle east will accomplish even less, however it may prove to be another way of transferring wealth from America to the third world!
@R. Gates
I wish you weren’t right. Ah well, I guess all we can do now is watch.
Richard Tyndall says:
July 8, 2011 at 11:29 am
Thirty years ago…
Richard, when I was in public school they led us to the gym one day to watch the lunar landing. I remember that day so vividly – the black and white tvs on top of those big rolling tables (which years later turned out to be not so big).
I think NASA needs to reinvent itself. Perhaps deep sea exploration or closer exploration of the planets, landing on a moon of Jupiter etc. But the space shuttle missions have run their course.
I wonder if the culture of being the only organization to hold the data (who had moon rocks other than NASA) has somehow affected the way NASA approaches climate change. Even the mere mention of Hansen as a NASA scientist has the meaning that he can’t be wrong. So much has changed.
James Sexton says:
July 8, 2011 at 9:05 am
“One day, Anthony, I’m sure we’ll be sending people to various places in the cosmos. I view it as an interlude. One day, NASA and our govt will get their priorities right……… one day.”
Sadly James that is exactly what we said in the early 70’s. We couldn’t wait to get to Mars by 2010. The real sadness is that “one day” may never come.
“Back in the day the space program was attacked for being a waste of money and effort when “real” problems such as poverty and hunger still afflicted the human race. Forty years on those “real” problems still exist”
Well said. The poor will be with us always. Or so prophecy tells us. Thus, if we wait to end poverty before expanding our horizons, it is unlikely we will ever develop the knowledge, tools or resources to end poverty. The reasons are easy to understand.
It has often been said that the resources of the earth are limited, thus our ability to grow and expand and end poverty is also limited on earth. However, the universe is infinite with infinite resources. Thus, the path to ending poverty must by necessity require us to use the infinite resources that are available in space.
For example, the asteroid belt beyond Mars. This likely has mineral wealth undreamed of on earth. How many space shuttles could a small asteroid of gold or platinum buy? We will never known, not in our lifetimes. Yet, just a few short years ago it was within our grasp.
What has changed is not our grasp, but rather our vision. When we look to the skies we no longer see opportunities, we see problems. Rather than see CO2 as an opportunity to develop new business, we approach the problem using taxes, penalties and regulations. Why?
The bureaucrats have replaced the entrepreneurs as the engine of the economy. Rather than seeking innovation the bureaucrat seeks stability. What is forgotten is that money and opportunity have costs. Tomorrow the price is higher as each of us has one less day of life available. You cannot stand still. Like a person, a country must grow or it will die.
60 years of manned spaceflight this year, and Nasa’s contribution can be roughly divided into two era’s. The first thirty years with manned flights with the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and the Space Shuttle. That era ended with the launch of the first Space Shuttle.