"We're not ending the journey today, we're completing a chapter of a journey that will never end...the thousands of men and women who gave their hearts, souls and their lives to the cause of exploration ...let’s light this fire one more time...and witness this great nation at its best. The crew of Atlantis is ready for launch.” -Cmdr. Christopher Ferguson, STS-135
The last gap we saw in American human spaceflight history lasted six years, between Apollo-Soyuz and STS-1. Now we stand, as a nation who put the first man (and eleven others) on the moon, with a hazy and questionable future of space flight before us. We must rely on foreign nations to take our men and women to space. Now, I should add a disclaimer: while I greatly admire NASA, the Space Shuttle program, and the thousands who made it possible, that doesn't change what it was: an over-budget project that failed to achieve its original projected goals of frequent flights and cost reduction for launching payloads. It was time for the Space Shuttle missions to retire, and we mustn't blind ourselves to the lessons we must learn for the future. Nevertheless, I am putting these issues aside for the purposes of this post.
I had the privilege of witnessing the last launch from 6.5 miles away on the closest public viewing grounds at the NASA Causeway. Roughly one million were predicted to be in attendance for this final mission, and an overwhelming sense of fortune graced the premises. With a 70% scrub looming over the giant orbiter in the form of a weather delay and a particularly short 3-day launch window, everyone was holding their breath. As the individuals in the firing room each gave their blessing, some squeaked in their last good-byes in the form of "it's been a pleasure," or "for the last time, we are a go," as three-letter acronyms methodically made their way out of the speakers. OTC? Go! TBC? Go! PTC? Go!...it was hard not to cry.
The moment stays with me as I fly home to Seattle from Orlando. As I board the first leg of my flight, I notice a young boy--he couldn't be more than 12--sitting next to me. He has a shirt with Atlantis printed on it, and a backpack advertising an academic space program for youths. This immediately inspires me, and I attempt to begin conversation with him:
me: I assume you got to see the space shuttle launch?At this point, I was so stunned that I was literally rendered speechless. We put three men and a woman into outer space this weekend! I wanted to shout at him. There is a research lab 200 miles above our heads, built in space, by multiple countries, doing SCIENCE unbounded by the burdens of gravity! How could a plane attached to a rocket -not- interest this young boy? Explosions, noise, fire, outer space, and exploring are supposed to be appealing to every child with an imagination, or so I thought. Then I remembered an article I read two years ago about the general disinterest from the public regarding human space flight, and I immediately felt a sad sinking in my stomach.
boy: (quietly) yeah.
me: Cool! Is this a school program? Where are you from?
boy: yeah. I'm from Idaho.
me: That's great! Where did you watch from? Were you close?
boy: I don't know. I was really, really bored. (he turns away from me to avoid talking to me further)
It's hard to explain to those who are not Aerospace fanatics why the last Space Shuttle mission (STS-135) is such an emotional time. I've been trying to find proper words without going all "October Sky" on everyone, but it comes down to the delicate nature of the momentum (and thus, funding) of the aerospace industry. This industry breathes and moves with each political decision, inauguration, new educational program, and most of all, the public's response.
Let's rewind to Kennedy's famous speech of 1961 at Rice University:
A nation in fear
a government with a blank check
+ a young president with charm
united we stand, behind the exciting new space program and promise of a man on the moon
The public was captivated by the happenings of a budding space program, in fear of Sputnik circling our Earth. What were the possibilities opened by pushing to a new frontier? We honestly believed that whoever won the space race was going to be the next superpower of the world. Science fiction spoke of moon colonies, contact with aliens, time travel, and exploring the unknown, and the gap between science fiction and science reality was seeming to close at an exciting rate. In retrospect, the amount of work accomplished by the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs in such a short time is absolutely astonishing. Money and fear moves in all industries.
Fast forward to today: we are in no state to write a blank check to any program, and our nation still lives in fear, but of other people and other issues. One of my frequently asked questions from a non-engineer is often along the veins of, "how much money does it cost to send one of your experiments into space? With that money, can't we feed starving people, diminish poverty, and give clean water to disease-ridden nations?" I wish it were that simple, but really, it's not. First, let's put some perspective on the alleged money that can be reallocated to said needs. Did you know that the annual budget for NASA is less than the funds spent on air conditioning for troops over seas? Think about that for a second. NASA employs almost 20 thousand employees, runs multiple (and successful) satellite, rover, rocket, (and until the Atlantis orbiter lands, human spaceflight) programs. These programs contribute to our understanding of far away places, have provided us with high resolution photographs of other worlds beyond our own, and provided countless technologies to our lives on Earth. Communication equipment, life support systems and other hospital equipment, composites, water purification systems, and let's face it, even fun things like Tang and freeze-dried ice cream. If you want to go even bigger picture and large scale timeline, let's remember Carl Sagan who reminded us that, if we want to sustain as a species, we're going to have to go exploring when our resources extinguish here. Even if you don't believe in space development and the expansion of our living environment, then consider this: to understand our own planet better, we must know from where it came and how it formed. These answers lie in the depths of outer space.
Back to the issue of helping those in need. Yes, I would like to see poverty and starvation and disease a thing of the past...but are these problems really going to go away by buying more food, water, and hospitals? These are greater problems that are more complicated than they appear on the surface, and have ties to issues such as cultural barriers and customs, geographic location, and farming capacity and environmental impacts. Reallocating the space program's money to these problems wouldn't even put a drop in their bucket.
With all this aside, why am I so crushed by this one young boy's indifference to seeing the last shuttle launch? Despite working for countless outreach programs, summer camps, and after-school activities, I was still left speechless and unable to come up with a proper response to change this kid's mind. I was disgusted and disappointed by my lack of preparedness in changing the guy's attitude and making science seem cool. I had a whole three-hour plane ride to do it, and I chickened out.
This is a trend we see in teaching kids math and science. Improvements are not being made in the general performance of K-12 education in these fields, and we are soon to be surpassed by other powerful countries. We're already outsourcing technical jobs, and the demand for engineers and scientists and academics are not being met. College professors are greeted each year by under-achieving and poorly motivated students who have seen standards-based grading and do not know how to perform simple arithmetic. Children are taught to be literally scared of math, and even worse, young girls are pushed towards "softer" fields instead of shown their capabilities in STEM. We've learned, as a country and society, to praise the small achievements, but ignore the large flaws.
We live in a world of instant gratification. With video games, internet, smart phones, and most information just a few clicks away, an industry based on decades of patience seems boring and unimportant. My generation is turned off by the idea of staying on one project for over 10 years, and waiting even longer to see results. We get frustrated, move on, and abandon. Even a homework assignment that takes more than two weeks will convince an aerospace (or any other science field) student to switch to an easier major.
Back to the issue of helping those in need. Yes, I would like to see poverty and starvation and disease a thing of the past...but are these problems really going to go away by buying more food, water, and hospitals? These are greater problems that are more complicated than they appear on the surface, and have ties to issues such as cultural barriers and customs, geographic location, and farming capacity and environmental impacts. Reallocating the space program's money to these problems wouldn't even put a drop in their bucket.
With all this aside, why am I so crushed by this one young boy's indifference to seeing the last shuttle launch? Despite working for countless outreach programs, summer camps, and after-school activities, I was still left speechless and unable to come up with a proper response to change this kid's mind. I was disgusted and disappointed by my lack of preparedness in changing the guy's attitude and making science seem cool. I had a whole three-hour plane ride to do it, and I chickened out.
This is a trend we see in teaching kids math and science. Improvements are not being made in the general performance of K-12 education in these fields, and we are soon to be surpassed by other powerful countries. We're already outsourcing technical jobs, and the demand for engineers and scientists and academics are not being met. College professors are greeted each year by under-achieving and poorly motivated students who have seen standards-based grading and do not know how to perform simple arithmetic. Children are taught to be literally scared of math, and even worse, young girls are pushed towards "softer" fields instead of shown their capabilities in STEM. We've learned, as a country and society, to praise the small achievements, but ignore the large flaws.
We live in a world of instant gratification. With video games, internet, smart phones, and most information just a few clicks away, an industry based on decades of patience seems boring and unimportant. My generation is turned off by the idea of staying on one project for over 10 years, and waiting even longer to see results. We get frustrated, move on, and abandon. Even a homework assignment that takes more than two weeks will convince an aerospace (or any other science field) student to switch to an easier major.
I don't have the answers, and everything is easier said than done. It is much easier to preach than to follow, and with so many issues calling our attention, this is not something that will be easily solved in a few years.
Why did I write this? For a few reasons:
- To give a better answer to the FAQ: "how was the launch?"
- Provide a sounding board for discussion on the topic
- Bring attention to problems that are not well-known outside of Aerospace
I hope I have done one of these things to any readers out there. At this point, I am hoping many things, but for now, I hope that young man comes to appreciate the piece of history he had the opportunity to witness, and I hope current generations of children are given the gift of inspiration from the men and women who have called outer space their home.
