Space is our Destiny 2 comments

2 Feb 2003 @ 15:32, by Craig Lang An earlier newslog article makes the claim that the Columbia disaster might be the end of the US Space Program. But somehow I doubt it. I believe that space is our destiny. And I also believe that the USA will remain a part of that destiny. Whether it is alone or in partnership, we WILL continue. We will bear the risks, and we will learn the lessons of being on the leading edge of exploration. ======================================================= Yesterday's disaster was devastating. It was one of the greatest tragedies imaginable in spaceflight. And I have already begun to hear chatter about how this is the death knell for the US Human Spaceflight Program. Yet I doubt very much that this is the end of the road. While I disagree with the president on many things, I was impressed by his statement that "We will carry on". Because I believe we will. Like all disasters, this is a wakeup call. There is a big lesson here - we need a replacement for the shuttle. For near-earth-orbit to be viable, a single stage to orbit vehicle is required. Technology needs to advance to the next step. Space is dangerous. As best we (or at least I) know at this time, the Columbia disaster was due to an engineering-related failure. Awful as this is, such things do happen. They are part of the price we pay for exploration. We all know the odds and the consequences. The shuttle is probably the most complex machine ever built by humanity, and yet its use had become almost routine. This is the bleeding edge of human endeavor. And yesterday, we saw that edge bleed. All my life I have lived with the sense of destiny that arises from the writings of Constantin Tsilkovski. Earth is the cradle of humanity, but one day we must leave the cradle. My sense is that now more than ever, humanity's destiny is in space. And risk is something that goes with the territory. For many years, I was involved in exploration of another kind - as a mountaineer. This was was a different form of exploration, but to me it is analogous. We were exploring the vertical world of rock and ice. Each trip up slope, we were well aware of the objective hazards of that strange world. In the 20 years I was involved in mountaineering, several climbers whom I considered to be friends and role models were killed while climbing. And unfortunately one all-too-predictable feature in "Climbing" magazine was the obituary. It is a sobering reminder of the value of life, and of the price of being on the edge. Yet we continue - the call to exploration is irresistable. There is a lot of risk in space travel. But I believe that we will continue to explore onward - because we must. The only reason we would stop is because we have somehow lost the nerve to do so. If this should occur, then I believe that we will not deserve the destiny of the stars. It should pass to others more deserving. Truly that would be the end - and it would usher in a fate much grimmer than the failure of a space craft. Space is dangerous, yet space is infinite, and space beckons to us. I believe that we are closer than we think to going to Mars. And I also believe that we are closer to starflight than we think. And so, above all else, I believe that space is our next frontier. Space is our destiny.

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