Rocket Men
US Space Shuttle Endeavour launched yesterday, carrying aboard a seven-member crew that included retired Idaho schoolteacher Barbara Morgan, who was the original backup for Christa McAuliffe, the schoolteacher/astronaut who died along with 6 astronauts in the Challenger disaster 21 years ago.
McAuliffe’s mission was to teach the nation from space–hopefully to rekindle the nation’s interest in the space program, and to show the world that spaceflight had become routine.
It hadn’t. Spaceflight was–and still is–a dangerous thing to do. Spacecraft are unavoidably complex, and the space travel involves manuevering a tiny capsule of environment hospitable to humans atop a controlled explosion through the hazards of outer space and the fiery re-entry back to earth. So many things can go wrong, and any number of them can and occasionally do kill astronauts.
Even now that private enterprise has joined in, with Burt Rutan’s Spaceship One winning the X-prize and Virgin Galactic selling seats on some future commercial spacecraft, we still get a reminder that we’re talking about space, not Space Mountain. An accident on the ground at Scaled Composites, the home of Spaceship One, took 3 lives not long ago.
Before and after the Challenger disaster, there was much hand-wringing over whether or not spaceflight was ready for civilians. Those same questions are no less valid today as we send her backup to the International Space Station, picking up where McAuliffe left off two decades ago–if anything, it’s more dangerous now with the Shuttle nearing the end of its operational life.
The reality, however, is that I don’t think there is anyone who doesn’t know that spaceflight is risky–an all-or-nothing roll of the dice for the sake of science, exploration, and adventure. Do the math and tell someone that there’s a one in twenty chance that you’ll die going up in space, and the line of applicants will still go out the door.
US Navy Rear Admiral Grace Hopper, who made history in computer programming field, is quoted as saying “a ship in a harbor is safe–but that’s not what a ship is built for.” This applies to spaceships as well.
Kudos to Barbara Morgan on her mission to the International Space Station. And while were at it, here’s kudos to a few other rocketeers pushing the envelope:
First, the Rocketmen of the 2nd Annual Rocketbelt Convention in New York. The Rocketbelt, sometimes called a jetpack, was a staple of sci-fi and adventure movies of the 60s and 70s. James Bond flew one in Thunderball. There is a resurgent interest in these amazing, if somewhat impractical (so far) personal rockets, with a number of new designs scheduled to be on display–and some even demonstrating–their very short flights at the convention.
Second, here’s to the guys of who are into amateur rocketry. You can start with little balsa tubes and Estes motors and work your way up to shooting a payload 77 miles up. You guys rock.
Finally, here’s the competitors in the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge. This is another X-Prize event where private companies compete to build a vehicle that can complete a task that would be the foundation of future Lunar Landers. The current challenge is to build a rocket that launches to 150 feet, hovers for 90 seconds, and then reverses the course within two and half hours. No one picked up the prize last year, so the field is wide open this year. Pay close attention to the entry from Speedup World, out of Wyoming. In addition to winning the X-Prize, their goal is build rocket bikes people like you and me can ride, so here’s hoping they win.
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Do you have any Challenger photos????