Will Missions Speak Louder than Hardware?
Tuesday, May 31, 2011 at 10:44PM Tonight as I was watching Space Shuttle Atlantis (OV-104) roll to the pad of course there were a number of threads going on Twitter but one of them really got me thinking. As I was watching the very poised and eloquent crew of STS-135 describe their vehicle with adjectives like "graceful" and "majestic" it got me thinking about the vehicle that is the space shuttle and what may come next.
For example the shuttle is a beautiful and majestic vehicle, most would agree with just a simple glance. But just look at it bathed in Xeon lights or gliding to a landing you can't help but be awestruck by the vehicle itself. Whether it is the aerodynamic lines or the unparalleled uniqueness of launching like a rocket and gliding smoothly back to earth like an aircraft. That feat and the shuttle as a vehicle itself are not likely to replicated for a very long time to come, if ever.
Think back to Apollo for a moment though. I don't think anyone would describe much of the hardware there as majestic or graceful per se. However the missions it enabled allowed stunning views of the barren moon and produced some of the most iconic images ever taken in the Apollo 8 Earth Rise as an example.
In the Shuttle Era the shuttle itself has been front and center as the star possessing a beauty all it's own. It has been largely about the vehicle. As the shuttle program winds down America looks to the next era in spaceflight I suspect, and frankly hope, we will see a transition in the source of the inspiration we expect from the space program. It would be my hope that in the next era of spaceflight we derive our inspiration and awe not from a singular piece of hardware but, as with Apollo, from the shear scope and audacity of the missions we undertake. If we find ourselves in the next decade longing to again be inspired by the shuttle then we'll have once again failed to muster the courage to push far enough.
I thank the shuttle program for it's great service to this nation. Most especially for foundation it laid over the last 30 years for what comes next. I hope we have the imagination and drive to create a future that doesn't leave us looking back at the shuttle wistfully as we sometimes do Apollo.