We say this a lot, but today it is actually true – it’s the end of an era.
The first manned spaceflight took place on April 12, 1961, when Yuri Gagarin was launched into low earth orbit by the Soviet Union. Already surprised by the launch of Sputnik in 1957, American kicked our space program into high gear, beating the Soviets to the moon and inaugurating the Space Age.
Twenty years to the day from Gagarin’s , the Space Shuttle Columbia blasted off on the first Shuttle mission. Thirty years and five shuttles later, today saw the last Space Shuttle launch, when Atlantis blasted off on its final voyage to the International Space Station.
I was three years old when Columbia launched. I, like many kids my age, grew up with the shuttle program, and America’s clear lead in the space race. NASA was one of the few government agencies that people still trusted and believed in. I was eight when Challenger was destroyed, and I still remember it vividly. Columbia had always been my favorite shuttle, and I was deeply affected by her loss on February 1, 2003 – a date I don’t need to look up. I remember watching the movie Space Camp as a kid and I was still in the generation where kids wanted to grow up to be astronauts.
Today, NASA’s image has been tarnished, and America’s love affair with manned spaceflight has waned. Shuttle launches are watched more to see if a disaster occurs than to see the miracle of modern technology at work. Most kids today couldn’t name a Shuttle astronaut and I’m willing to bet that astronaut doesn’t rank in the top ten professions kids aspire to be anymore. Household names like Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, Jim Lovell, Sally Ride – they just aren’t around anymore. Other than Gabby Gifford’s husband Mark Kelly, there haven’t been many astronauts prominent lately.
I’m saddened by the last shuttle flight. It effectively marks the end of America’s dominance in space. While there was a five year gap between the end of the Apollo/Soyuz missions and the beginning of the Shuttle program, there was never any question that we would continue manned spaceflight. The shuttle program itself began in the late sixties and was well underway by the time the Apollo/Soyuz missions wrapped up – the test flights of the prototype shuttle Enterprise took place in 1976, a year after Apollo ended.
We do not have a replacement shuttle ready to go. In fact, we’re years away from having a replacement. We’ll be buying space from Russia on future Soyuz missions to fulfill our obligations to support the International Space Station.
I recognize that we live in a time where budgets are tight and money is scarce. But I can’t help but feel that we’re losing something inherently American by allowing NASA and our manned spaceflight programs to whither on the vine. I was excited when President Bush announced the goal of returning to the moon by 2020 and establishing a permanent base there. And I opposed President Obama’s scrapping of that goal, and instead focusing funds on the space station and commercialization. Exploration of space has been part of the American experience since the 1950s – we took the lead, we have been the pioneers. We shouldn’t simply give that up because of economic pressures. The long-term impact of our exploration of space is too important.
Budgets are about priorities. I firmly believe the space program should be a key American priority. I wish we had a plan going forward. I wish this wasn’t the last flight of the shuttle. And I wish I had confidence in this Administration to fix this problem. But I don’t.
Godspeed, Atlantis. Let’s hope you aren’t the end of America’s manned space exploration program.
