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Reflections on Columbia

Submitted by charlie.collins on Mon, 02/03/2003 - 09:53
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For me, ever since reading Carl Sagans books and getting a glimpse of his vision and passion I have been really hooked on space and human space travel. I pay attention to space related news regularly and have tried to learn more and more about astronomy. I was in high school when the Challenger disaster occurred and was watching the launch live and in person. It was of course a terrible tragedy for all but it was especially difficult being so close. I did not know any of the astronauts. I only knew that they were incredibly smart and courageous. They were and still are heroes. The same of course applies to the Columbia crew. This event marks a great loss of great lives. That has been said over and over, but its true and it bears repeating. These people were the best of the best, period. I would like to thank Cooper for documenting more on each Columbia astronaut than I could find on ANY other site (at the time he posted them). The space program in the states has had many tragedies. Its a dangerous business but it must keep moving forward. Its amazing to me that we have come so far from such humble beginnings that we now have an International Space Station. The shuttle of course is crucial to continuing that venture. I have always felt that space travel, while competitive, has brought nations of the earth together and the space station is a prime example. Regardless of the cause of this latest tragedy we need to keep the program going and support it even more. Things need to be addressed of course, but the program should not be set back, it must proceed. Space is still a frontier and it is in our frontiers that we have made our most profound discoveries. The possibilities for knowledge and understanding in exploring the worlds beyond our own is limitless. The flight of STS-107 was tragic, those aboard will be greatly missed, but the overall mission must go on. For more on the disaster and the investigation see the linked NASA Columbia site.   Columbia

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Re: Reflections on Columbia

Submitted by jheimann (not verified) on Mon, 02/03/2003 - 11:26.
I remember the Challenger incident as well. I was watching in the library (one of the many benefits of being a library student aide!). Ever since the 2nd grade I had a love of rockets and space and watching the space shuttle explode was devestating. The same with Columbia - I was upset. However, I wasn't shocked. I figured that something like this would happen sooner or later. And while I desperately want man to explore space, I truly believe the space shuttle is the worst possible way to do it. The shuttle is based on technology which is, in some cases, almost 30 years old. The shuttle has never lived up to what it was supposed to do. Because of special interests (The United Space Alliance company and senators from various states), the space shuttle has become a pork barrel project, a dinosaur which is incredible expensive and becoming more dangerous to operate. And don't get me started on the International space station. While a really cool idea, implementation has sucked for this international white elephant. The entire space community needs to re-evaluate their goals. Personally, I want to see more robotic probes and a research station on the moon within 20 years. Manned mission to Mars within 30 years. A space elevator within 50 years. I think the shuttle and ISS programs are only going to distract us from these goals as well as drain vast resources. Here is a great article which will be appearing in Time: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1101030210-418518,00.html

Re: Reflections on Columbia

Submitted by atrox (not verified) on Mon, 02/03/2003 - 12:01.
While I understand your keen insights into the waste, I still think these programs are viable. Yeah sure I would like to see better and more efficient programs, but I would work on these in parallel and not kill the shuttle program until a replacement was ready to go. Repeated space travel with the same vehicle has given us great knowledege and great experience. Its old, its not doing exactly what it was designed to do, but its been a great success. Also, while I agree that every government project is a textbook on how to WASTE money, I still think the space program deserves more. We dont give it the attention or financial backing it needs. Developing new technologies within an organization that is constantly heckled by congress, never given the funds it needs and really treated like the proverbial red-headed step child by idiot congresspeople that dont know anything about it is not easy. Nasa has wasted a lot of money, made a lot of mistakes, etc, but this is again a frontier, there is not a blueprint, they have to work and learn and sometimes tragedy does occur. It IS rocket science after all. And as for that article you sent, while it does point out much about the inefficiencies of the shuttle and the author seems quite knowledgeable, statements like this make me scoff at it "With hundreds of launches to date, the American and Russian manned space programs have suffered just three fatal losses in flight—and two were space-shuttle calamities. This simply must be the end of the program." EXACTLY, hundreds of launches and 3 fatal losses, for SPACE FLIGHT? Sure we might have been able to do better, but we could have also done a lot damn worse?

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