OK, so the anniversary (forty-fifth) of the Apollo I fire is tomorrow, the twenty-sixth Challenger anniversary is Saturday, and Wednesday is the ninth anniversary of the Columbia loss. So why commemorate today?
Category Archives: Space
A Space Business Interview With Jeff Greason
With a bonus appearance by Chuck Lauer.
NASA’s Irrational Approach To Risk
Bob Zubrin asks how much an astronaut is worth. I don’t think that this is historically accurate, though:
The attempted Hubble desertion demonstrates how a refusal to accept human risk has led to irresponsible conduct on the part of NASA’s leadership. The affair was such a wild dereliction of duty, in fact, that O’Keefe was eventually forced out and the shuttle mission completed by his replacement.
That’s not how I remember it. I recall at the time that I thought, and even advocated, that O’Keefe step down, because he had demonstrated himself unable to do the job, being traumatized by having to tell the Columbia families and friends on the tarmac at KSC that their loved ones weren’t coming home, which is probably what caused his timidity about Hubble. But I’m aware of no evidence that he was “forced out” over the decision. I thought that he simply wanted out of the job and took the best offer that came along. The administration would have been loath to remove an administrator, knowing how hard it is to find a good one. Someone should write a letter to the Reason editor on this. Bob either needs to substantiate this with a credible citation, or the magazine should run a correction. Because I think it’s wishful thinking on his part.
[Update a few minutes later]
Bad link, it’s fixed now, sorry.
[Mid-afternoon update]
While I criticized O’Keefe at the time, I didn’t actually disagree with the Hubble decision at the time. The problem that I saw with it was that it was based on irrational criteria. All the focus was on astronaut safety, and no one seemed to be considering how disastrous it would be if we lost another orbiter. NASA had no shortage of astronauts, but there were only three birds left in the fleet, and we would have had to complete ISS with only two, if the program survived at all. Add to that the fact that we probably could have launched an improved Hubble replacement for the cost of the repair mission, and the decision to do it was irrational in its own way, driven by an emotional attachment to the telescope that had shown so many wonders over the past decade.
A Twinkle Of Hope
My lead article in the special Reason February issue on space is on line now. This paragraph is somewhat pertinent to today’s events:
Can space policy be fixed? Not without the national will to do so. It would take either real visionaries making policy decisions or some sort of existential crisis (e.g., an asteroid with our number on it) to break out of the policy logjam. But the chances of the former are not as low as one might think. Had Rep. Ralph Hall (R-Texas) not switched parties seven years ago while being allowed to keep his seniority, the 88-year-old defender of the status quo would not be the current chairman of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee. Instead the chairmanship would have fallen to Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), who has defended the administration’s space policy. Rohrabacher will almost certainly take over when Hall retires or is term-limited out in five years. If Newt Gingrich by some miracle wins the GOP presidential nomination and the White House, he would be the most space-conversant commander in chief in American history. So the stars might yet align.
But I still think it’s an uphill battle for Gingrich to win, even if he wins Florida.
Newt’s Speech
So, I haven’t seen it yet, but he reportedly called for a lunar base by the end of his second term, presumably utilizing prizes, and he implicitly proposed withdrawing from the Outer Space Treaty, which does not allow claims of national sovereignty off planet.
[Update late evening]
Marcia Smith has a pretty good description of the speech.
The Purpose Of Human Spaceflight
Robert Lancaster has an interesting essay over at The Space Review, the first (presumably) two parts.
Science Fiction Faces Facts
Greg Benford writes about the evolution of science fiction through the space age, up to now, as part of the Reason space issue.
In The Year Of The Dragon
You can now see the inside of one.
Rocket Men
As part of the continuing on-line rollout of this month’s special Reason issue on space, Katherine Mangu-Ward writes about the people working to get the rest of us into space. There will be a lot of familiar names to readers of this site. I think that my lead article is due to be posted tomorrow. But if you can’t wait, I think it’s still on the stands. Or you might want to subscribe — it’s just a little over a buck a month.
About Time
Gabby Giffords is stepping down from Congress. What happened to her is tragic, but her district has been effectively unrepresented for over a year. This is best for both her and her constituents. Note that I’d say that about anyone in a similar situation, regardless of party or positions. And if she recovers sufficiently, she can always run again in the future.