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On this day in history... January 28, 1986... Space Shuttle
Challenger was lost with all hands. As with the Apollo 1 fire of
January 27, 1967 (and why does no-one comment on those dates), this
disaster was a failure of the imagination (as spoken by astronaut Frank
Borman to Congress in April, 1967) - failure to imagine that all of the
conditions would conspire to cause the one-in-a-billion
failure.
Yet Americans pushed onward, because freedom isn't
free, and Space Exploration comes with a price. Today we face yet
another failure of the imagination, because we have a generation that
cannot imagine how space exploration can benefit them, as they sit in
front of their TVs receiving signals from satellites in space, playing
games and making facebook and twitter comments via computers that were developed to
miniaturize for space applications, using cell phones with more computing power of the entirety of NASA Mission Control in 1967, surrounded by household materials
such as velcro and plastics first developed for the space program.
On a hot summer day in 1962, President John F. Kennedy, speaking at Rice University in Houston extended to this challenge to the American people:
... the vows of this Nation can only be fulfilled if we in this
Nation
are first, and, therefore, we intend to be first. In short, our
leadership
in science and industry, our hopes for peace and security, our
obligations
to ourselves as well as others, all require us to make this effort, to
solve these mysteries, to solve them for the good of all men, and to
become
the world's leading space-faring nation.
...
We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this
decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because
they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the
best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we
are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which
we intend to win, and the others, too.
But Kennedy also forsaw the costs, the dangers, and those who would say we cannot afford to spend money on a Space effort
Surely
the opening vistas of space promise high costs and hardships, as well as
high reward.
...
We have had our failures, but so have others, even if they do not
admit them. And they may be less public.
To be sure, we are behind, and will be behind for some time in
manned
flight. But we do not intend to stay behind, and in this decade, we
shall
make up and move ahead.
The growth of our science and education will be enriched by new
knowledge
of our universe and environment, by new techniques of learning and
mapping
and observation, by new tools and computers for industry, medicine, the
home as well as the school.
Unfortunately, we live in hard economic times. We have skilled workers out of work, have lost manufacturing jobs to overseas, failed financial institutions and loss of confidence in government. We live in "an age of limited choices" as predicted by Niven, Pournelle and Flynn in their novel
Fallen Angels. Yet there is great promise in space effort - already by 1962 there was evidence:
And finally, the space effort itself, while still in its infancy,
has already created a great number of new companies, and tens of
thousands
of new jobs. Space and related industries are generating new demands in
investment and skilled personnel, and this city and this state, and this
region, will share greatly in this growth.
You will ask "who will pay for it" and the sad truth is that future generations WILL pay the costs for whatever we do today, but what legacy do we wish to leave our sons and daughters? A legacy of handouts and dole? Of payouts to corrupt officials and incompetent corporations? A legacy of despair? Or would we rather pass on a legacy of HOPE, one that opens frontiers, provides jobs and strengthens the role of science, education and technology in our society?
It is said that all-out war will revitalize a nation's economy (but only if they win) by requiring productivity in manufacturing and technical capability. However, a renewed commitment to Space Exploration will have the same effect - if we let it.
We stand at a crossroads. How about we choose the road that leads to Space?
Crap - "Teddy", I had a great response, insightful and provocative, connecting the Chinese abandonment of their pre-Columbian discovery of America with our contemporary turning our backs on Space, and concluding with the idea somebody ought write a novel set in a present day America where the Moon Race never occurred -- but my ID didn't take -- and such posts never rewrite well. Sorry.
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RSamson105@hotmail.com
Nice post! Indeed, in many ways our imaginations have failed.
ReplyDeleteBest,
G
Seems to be the subject of my day. I just came from a NASA retrospective and astronaut memorial service, and now I'm talking about the same thing on the radio. You say it wonderfully, Speaker, and I could not be more eloquent in my own plea.
ReplyDeleteTo quote Jerry Pournelle. . .
ReplyDelete". . .it's raining soup out there, and nobody will let us invest in bowls. . . "
Here, here!
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