Why Space Matters
this is my first potential opinions piece for The Chimes

"that’s one small step for man… one giant leap for man kind".

Those famous first words, uttered nearly thirty-five years ago, by Neal Armstrong as he took man’s first steps on the moon have echoed down through history. It seems as though the echo is beginning to thin and fade as time passes however, growing fainter and smaller every year. The Space Race of the ‘60’s and 70’s is long dead, the Iron Curtain has fallen, and we no longer have a world to win with our intergalactic feats. It seems as if the investment has paid off, politically at least, and we have won. But along the way we also lost the most important thing… NASA.

NASA is obsolete.

At this very moment, in the aftermath of yet another shuttle tragedy to touch our generation, NASA is contemplating returning to Apollo Era technology. Huge booster rockets and crew modules designed over 40 years ago are being examined as possible stand-ins until the shuttle fleet is cleared to return to manned flights. In the short term, I say great! Call up Tom Hanks and Ed Harris, maybe give them some duct tape, and we could have a real-live working space program in no time flat!

Short term revivals of antiquated, but adequate technology are wonderful to maintain our commitment to the I.S.S. (International Space Station). But for people in the aerospace industry to seriously consider this for more than patch-&-paint style fill-in missions is completely off base with where the space program should be. Over the years, NASA has become bogged down by bureaucracy, scandal, mission failure and lack of direction. It is time, at least for the short term, to place our hopes of reaching out to the stars on the shoulders of the private sector.

What’s next?

Incredible announcements have been made several times during the last six months concerning what’s next for space. The trouble is that no one is paying attention… well not quite everyone. Kids transfixed by the Space Race of the ’60 and 70’s are now adults, and some of them are very very rich. It was recently uncovered that Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com has been secretly funding a company called Blue Origin run out of a non-discript industrial building in Seattle. What is this company doing? According to insiders, they are developing technology to revolutionize the space/tourism industry. Taking people to the stars… finally the dot-com generation brings the possibility of something without pop up windows.

The most notable story as of late however is one concerning Real Composites of Mojave, California. In April, Scaled unveiled their fully developed and built, manned space plane SpaceShipOne. Funded entirely by secret private investors, Scaled’s space plane may very well be the first in a long string of successful non-governmental space companies that will carry us into the rest of the solar system this century.

Realistically, NASA will be the leader again in the future, but this new private sector development may be just the Sputnik that our rusty old space agency needs to get back into the cosmic ballgame. If we, as humans are to continue on to explore and possibly live on other planets in our solar system, it needs to happen outside of Government funding. If we’re lucky, we may just be the generation that sees that dream come true.

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