Florida's Space Coast Worried for Future

Associated Press ^ | 2-1-03 | MIKE BRANOM

[chimera]

What NASA needs is a grandiose plan and a budget to match. Authorizing a couple of shuttle launches a year is not going to cut it. The infrastructure is getting old and the industry is rotting with it. When was the last time anyone used the word rocket scientist other than in a joke?

I couldn’t agree more. It is sad to say, but it is true that the fire has gone out of the program and a spark is lacking. Ask the average person on the street about space exploration and you’ll likely get a gee-whiz kind of response, like they think spaceflight is neat and all that but don’t have a clue as to what its really about or what the benefits are. Shuttle flights to the ISS or low earth orbit to go around and around without really going anywhere don't seem to ignite any excitement among the sheeple and only when disaster strikes to people really look up and notice.

Everyone knows that the spur for Apollo was beating the Soviets to the moon. We did that and then what? Its like a runner winning a race and then standing around with his hands at his sides, wondering what happened. Apollo continued for a while and then sputtered out like a carelessly struck match. What did we get then? A space shuttle program born in large part because of bean counters worried about the cost of expendable launch vehicles and politicians who were swayed by the bogus criticism of spending “too much” on space “at the expense” of doing social programs on Earth. Complete claptrap. In fact, I’m tempted to argue it the other way around. Spending too much on social programs that have been nothing but utter, dismal failures has cost us our true destiny, which is to soar above the Earth and among the stars.

During and for a short time after Apollo's heyday people in high places talked about flying to Mars. They were serious. Today you hear chit-chat about it but nothing really being talked about at the levels where something really could happen. Its all just robots, satellite cell phones, GPS and what's-the-bottom-line?

The whole structure of spaceflight and space research is creaking and crumbling. We don't have a realistic plan to get back to the moon, or what to do if we got there, which would be a good thing to do first. Nobody talks seriously about mounting a Mars mission anymore. I'll never live to see it, I'm pretty sure. We don't have even a clue as to how to do extra-solar missions. People talk about exploding nuclear bombs behind blast shields as a way to push spaceships to nearby solar systems. Geez, I mean, get the penicillin. What kind of a drive system is that, blowing things up?

Its going to take someone with a real vision and the drive and commitment to see it through, push it until it gives, to turn this around. Someone with guts and vision and the courage to pound desks and tell the bureaucrats and business-as-usual buttkissers to flip off and if we’re really serious about doing this, its going to take commitment and the political will to see it through. Given the present breed of political leaders (e.g., a bean counter heading up NASA), businessmen, and scientists, I'm not optimistic (I'll include myself in that third group since I opened my big mouth).

[onedoug]

"...completely unrelated to the shuttle....

"...but, in my opinion, the military dominance of Near Earth Orbits, which is crucial to US defence, does not depend on them at all."

Please see....

Though the first all-military Shuttle mission was originally scheduled for launch on 8 December 1984, it did not lift off until 24 January 1985. Captain Thomas K. Mattingly, II was selected to command Discovery on the highly classified mission. The orbiter was piloted by Air Force Colonel Loren J. Shriver, and the mission specialists were Air Force Major Ellison S. Onizuka and Marine Corps Lt. Colonel James F. Buchli. Air Force Major Gary E. Payton served as payload specialist. The launch was delayed on January 23rd due to weather, and cold weather held up cryogenic fueling operations for two hours on the 24th. Those delays aside, the last four hours of the countdown proceeded smoothly, and Discovery lifted off Pad 39A at 1950:00Z on 24 January 1985. Details of the mission are not releasable. Discovery landed at KSC at 2123:24Z on 27 January 1985.

All the Best....

[samtheman]

I don't doubt that there are military applications to shuttle flights. After all, when the shuttle's going up anyway, why not put some military stuff aboard. That would make sense.

But to say that the shuttle flights are a PREREQUISITE to US military supremacy in orbit, is wrong. In my opinion.

[onedoug]

Well, since we currently have no other manned military access to orbit, I dont think we can afford to view China's ambitions to get into space as entirely commercial.

I recall a statement some time back of an Air Force General, whose name I cant recall, to the effect that, "We must not only be prepared to fight in space. We must also be prepared to fight our way into space."

There's a certian ominousness in that, which informs the opposite of your view, to me, as much as I respect it, however.

[samtheman]

You raise a good point. No one can predict the future and there's always the possibility that manned missions may be necessary to secure our military hardware in Europe.

I do think it will be at least 10 years before China can do anything realistically threatening in space, unless you're talking about "killer satellites" which don't have anything to do with manned missions and can best be defended against with technology, not people.

In the meantime, we can keep our edge with fewer flights and fewer people on each flight while going full speed ahead with putting the most sophisticated technology in orbit that we can develop (which I'm sure we are doing).

[onedoug]

On a return trip to Vietnam in 2000 with my daughter, we were sitting on China Beach where more stars than I'd seen in years were visible as it was so dark.

We watched what we were sure was a satellite pass overhead from south to north, so in polar orbit, an hence likely military. Given just the numbers, I said, the chances are better than even that it was one of ours.

Everything Good....

[samtheman]

I've seen them myself. Very cool to watch and imagine them going about their rounds.