“What do you want to be when you grow up?”
When I was growing up, asking a classroom full of kids that question almost always included the answer “I want to be an astronaut!” Space was cool. Space was something new, innovative and entrepreneurial. Inspiration was clearly NASA’s main value proposition.
Compare that with today.
A little less than 24 hours ago, I stood and watched six of the most intelligent and genial guys I’ve met get hurtled into and out of our atmosphere, to spend a couple of weeks in the void we’ve so aptly named space. They say third time’s a charm, and after attempting to view two other launches in the past (and failing), I’m glad it never worked out for me before and that this was the winning attempt. There’s some factor of emotion and investment when you know the folks strapped on top of such a dangerous, but beautiful machine. The launch (and the subsequent, on-going mission) has been the culmination of months of preparation for the flight crew and teams. And for me, it was a defining moment, the result of not only months of training and support of the crew, but years of dreams, hopes, prayers, passion, and dedication to the human spaceflight industry. I just couldn’t have asked for a better first experience.
I seem to always go back to this when I talk about my space adventures, but seventeen years ago, sitting in the viewing area of the Shuttle Flight Control Room (FCR), I still remember being in awe of the remarkable technological beauty that lay before me. To me, this was the epicenter of space…of everything I’d read and dreamed about for what, at the time, seemed so long. So, when I finally walked through the gates of Johnson Space Center as an employee, I was giddy with excitement.
In my last entry, I made what I believe is the fundamental case for space exploration – the fact that the survival of our species ultimately depends on it. Perhaps the world’s most reknowned cosmologist, Stephen Hawking shares this view and, with the help of computer graphics, illustrated it on the Discovery Channel with tonight’s episode of “Into the Universe” – The Story of Everything.
Not only do we have external and internal threats to our continued existence, we have a final time limit of about one billion years. The Sun is in its “middle age,” but it will eventually expand – in about five billion years – into what is called a red giant star. At this point, it will have stopped fusing hydrogen in its core and will only be burning in the outer shells.
There is a strong sentiment held by some these days that America doesn’t necessarily need to explore space or that, if it does, we should leave it entirely to the private sector. I’d like to discuss why I think space exploration is important and the role I see for government in that endeavor. For this first post, I’ll talk about the “why”.
The fundamental reason I think we should explore space at all is pretty straightforward, actually. We are almost certain that we know what killed the dinosaurs. Sixty-five million years ago, an object 10-15 kilometers in size impacted the Earth near the present-day town of Chicxulub on the Yucatan Peninsula. For a sense of perspective, this asteroid or comet was almost as big around as the Inner Loop/610.
STS-131 Space Shuttle Discovery lit up the dawn sky this morning as she broke free from gravity’s grip to reach low Earth orbit on her way to the International Space Station.
Couple minutes after midnight. Clear sky of stars above, three-quarter moon just over the horizon, launch tower lights dancing across the river.
I’m the lone person on the causeway, standing on the narrow stretch of rock and road crossing the Banana River between the Kennedy Space Center and the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. It’s really just me here. Not another soul in sight. Not even headlights. White folding chairs are lined up in neat little rows in the grass and tents have been erected over empty tables awaiting crowds who will amass here in two days to view a display of fire and thunder and grandeur.
The Falcon 9 rocket, awaiting its maiden voyage and white like an alabaster statue, stares me down from afar.
Read more
We have a budget proposal from the President that expands ISS utilization, invests in building a commercial LEO services-based launch capability, promotes a push to do R&D on exploration-enabling technologies, and, yes, cancels the Constellation program.
We have a Congress that, amongst the members who seem to care, largely doesn’t like this proposal, but is split amongst the various local concerns about what the best response to the budget is. I have to admit that I share Rep. Dana Rohrabacher’s sense of irony at a Democratic White House arguing for increased privatization against Congressional Republicans advocating the continuation of a monolithic government program.
Quick Recap of Launch Water Day 2:
Innovator Stephen Kennedy Smith: Verticrop. “Large-Scale Vertical Hydroponic Ag System”
After working on the LAUNCH:Water concept for the past year, we finally kicked it off yesterday — along with our cool new Nike-designed website.
In response to a thoughtful comment from Tim846 from last time, I’d like to steer the discussion of open technology towards how to create not only transparency but also stimulate participation in open technologies led by an Open NASA.
Before I get into a specific roadmap, a couple prerequisites need to be installed for successful open participation to happen:
Read more
