Posted on 05/05/2007 1:48:27 PM PDT by Nasty McPhilthy
Last week, Wally Schirra, Jr., a member of a shrinking and nearly extinct daredevil brotherhood, died of a heart attack. Schirra was the only astronaut to fly in all three of NASA’s original manned spaceflight programs: Mercury, Gemini and Apollo.
Of the original Mercury Seven, only Scott Carpenter and John Glenn are still alive. As a matter of fact, John Glenn was still cheating death as late as last year.
Last summer, John Glenn and his wife were injured in a traffic accident near Columbus. The astronaut and former Ohio senator now holds two historical distinctions: He was the first American to orbit earth, and, to my knowledge, is the first politician to get into trouble while in a car with his own wife.
It occurred to me while hearing of Glenn’s brush with death, and especially now upon the news of Schirra’s passing, that a generation of daredevils are about to leave us, never to return.
I’ve always considered it somewhat unfitting that those who once made their livings cheating death meet their end while doing relatively normal things or of natural causes, as was nearly the case for Glenn and was Schirra’s circumstance. I remember years ago reading about how Chuck Yeager — the first man to prove the sound “barrier” was anything but, and who not only cheated death, but stole death’s wallet, credit cards and slept with its girlfriend — was severely injured after falling from a ladder.
In April of 2006, Yeager’s colleague and competitor in the halcyon days of the space race, Scott Crossfield, was killed when his single-engine plane crashed in the Georgia mountains. This was a little closer to a “fitting” death (if there is such a thing) for a risk-taking pilot, but it is still like a NASCAR driver dying in a lawn mower accident.
We still have Neil Armstrong, John Glenn, and many, many others with us, but as time goes by, it takes many of our heroes with it. What makes the aging and passing of a generation of true American heroes that much harder to take is that it seems they’re not being replaced.
These men had what author Tom Wolfe described with simplistic accuracy as “The Right Stuff.”
It’s been decades since Apollo 11 first landed on the moon. You’d think Mars would be littered with Starbucks and Chuck E. Cheese’s by now, but no, we’re still in Earth orbit, trying to figure out which tile glue is the most environmentally friendly.
Why aren’t we further ahead? Is political correctness, the sociological cancer of the new millennium, to blame? There would be no shortage of volunteers for dangerous missions if allowed the opportunity — but there’s the rub.
Space travel is an incredibly dangerous business, and in today’s Nerf-wrapped, sharp-edges-rounded-off, “no running on the playground” world, the government has little tolerance for anything that could cause an owie. If the U.S. government of today ran the push west early in American history, Lewis and Clark would still be sitting just outside St. Louis — perhaps hopelessly distracted by the roulette wheel at an Indian casino.
Even if we do manage to accomplish amazing feats of achievement once again in outer space, it probably won’t be the same as in the heyday. If humans ever set foot on the surface of Mars, chances are the first astronaut to stand on the Red Planet will do so while saying, “that’s one small step for man – one giant leap for … Diet Pepsi!”
So often there are calls for money that would go toward space exploration to instead be directed toward social programs. How many kids will grow up to reminisce about gathering around the television, giddy with nervous anticipation and observing in jaw-dropping wonder, the arrival of some guy’s welfare check?
This and government PC has dimmed the space flame, and I fear that we’re just a couple more traffic accidents, Cessna crashes, heart attacks and ladder falls away from forever losing a piece of living history. Astronauts used to make news for landing on the moon — now they make news for wearing diapers and trying to kidnap guys at airports.
Gene Kranz, retired NASA director of operations, said in a recent interview that the missions over which he presided would never be allowed to go forward given the risk factors vs. current preoccupation with avoiding danger at all cost.
Kranz also noted this in a 2005 editorial:
All progress involves risk. Risk is essential to fuel the economic engine of our nation. And risk is essential to renew American’s fundamental spirit of discovery so we remain competitive with the rest of the world.
Of course, space travel of any sort is still an incredibly risky business. We need to look no further than the shuttles Challenger and Columbia for reminders of that, but, as the years go on, the evolutionary process of the space program seems to be more lateral in nature. There’s no shortage of those willing to take risks, but, due to lawsuit threats, political correctness, activists and ridiculous regulations, there is a tremendous scarcity of those willing to call for them.
This is robbing future generations of an ingredient necessary to spur progress: Awe.
The world may never again see the likes of Shepherd, Armstrong, Aldrin, Glenn, Yeager, and many more. The looming extinction of The Right Stuff isn’t a natural one. We’re killing them off, and it’s a shame.
John Glenn? Hero?
Only to the Chicoms...
The right stuff, in terms of space exploration, may be a scarce commodity ... but in terms of the young men and women who serve our country in the military, who routinely go in harms way ... there's still plenty of the 'right stuff' in their ranks.
The right stuff is more common then this writer thinks.
Our nation need only support them........
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vZ8RIcmWAk
He got Neils’ quote wrong... One small step for A man... that video’s a fake! /sarc
The Moon Race was huge public relations extravaganza. As I sit here, I'm sure some brave American is inside Iran or North Korea on a mission that we will never hear about (or will the ACLU and U.N.).
LoL
In this vein, just having watched one of the remastered Star Trek episodes I am reminded of Captain Kirk’s soliloquy from another TOS ep (”Return to Tomorrow”):
“They used to say if man could fly, he’d have wings.
But he did fly - he discovered he had to.
Do you wish that the first Apollo mission hadn’t reached the moon
or that we hadn’t gone on to Mars or the nearest star?
That’s like saying you wish that you still operated with scalpels
and sewed your patients up with catgut
like your great - great - great - great - grandfather used to.
I’m in command, I could order this. But I’m not...
because ... Dr. McCoy is right
in pointing out the enormous danger potential
in any contact with life and intelligence
as fantastically advanced as this.
But I must point out that the possibilities,
the potential for knowledge and advancement is equally great.
Risk.
Risk is our business.
That’s what this starship is all about.
That’s why we’re aboard her!”
However, I hold him in contempt for what he did as a senator and for sucking up to the Clintons to get the payola of that 1998 shuttle flight.
For your info, Glenn was the only American to shoot down a Chinese MIG with a Corsair F4U propeller driven WWII plane. He is also a Korean War Ace. Can you say that, for some reason I doubt it.
BFD. In the military we had a saying. "One Aw s**t wipes out a thousand Atta boys". He's a traitor in my book.
Better yet, private entrepreneurs would be doing it.
This article is pretty far off the point. Repeal the Treaty so we can get on with space development.
One might recall how in 1964—two years after his historic space flight—Glenn was severely hurt when he slipped and fell in a bathtub. Besides generating a number of jokes, Glenn’s accident forced him to abandon his plans to run against leftie Senator Buster Young (D-Ohio).
Here’s another, lesser known individual who obviously had the Right Stuff, and might have gone on to fly in space had he lived long enough.
http://home.att.net/~historyzone/Welch1.html
They are both very honorable and brave things for Americans to have done.
The space program pushed the frontiers of science forward. Maybe now the government isn’t necessary to push us into space (the private sector might be the way to go), but in the 60’s they were needed to get the job done.
Hilarious! Never saw that before. It’s very well done, isn’t it? Right down to the crackly sound, too.
Well, today they wear diapers on trips to Florida.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.