This weekend saw the third tragedy for the American space program, and the second for the Shuttle. This time, the Grand Old Lady of the fleet, SS Columbia was destroyed over Texas with her crew of seven astronauts. So far, the exact cause is unknown, but it appears that damage to the heat shielding tiles on Colmbia's left wing were damaged during lift off by falling debris.
While this event is painful to all Americans, it has particularly affected my wife and myself. We were High School Freshmen at different schools in Florida the day Challenger was lost. While millions watched on television, we saw the explosion live from our schools on the the other side of Florida.
What makes this painful for us, is that neither disaster had to happen, particularly for Columbia and her crew. Based on recent news reports, safety issues at NASA have been steadfastly ignored by administrators and by the Bush and Clinton Administrations. Some, like science fiction authors Jerry Pournelle and Larry Niven, claim that NASA has ignored less expensive, more reliable craft in favor of the money wasting shuttle. Others say the program should be trashed and rebuilt. I hold with this view.
Others claim that manned spaceflight is dangerous, expensive, and worthless. I refer them to this commentary and these songs here, here & here.
Space exploration will continue to be a dangerous, expensive proposition, but it is still worthwhile. Aside from providing a better understanding of the universe, many technologies, visible and invisible can be attributed to aerospace research. We need to continue to press forward with our endeavors, but to do so in a methodical approach that makes sense, in expenseand safety.
If we give up now, all of the cost, ine lives and money, will be for naught.
Posted by Chris at February 4, 2003 10:25 AM