Space . . . the Final Frontier

Challenger explosion. Photo from Nasa.gov

Today is the anniversary of the destruction of Space Shuttle Challenger. On January 28, 1986, the space shuttle was taking off with a teacher, taking a civilian into space.

The shuttle blew up 74 seconds into flight, sending plumes of smoke all over the sky, and killing the seven people on board.

Thousands of students watched the shuttle blow up, as this was supposed to be a lesson in the great technological feats of the US. I remember all the media coverage of the first teacher in space.

This was supposed to be a great victory.

I was traveling in my vehicle on Interstate 581 when I heard on the radio that the shuttle had blown up. I burst into tears and had to pull over. I was late getting to work. They'd heard the news, but it was no big deal.

It was a big deal to me. As a lifelong space and NASA fan, I felt it was a national tragedy - and it was. I think that was the day I learned how indifferent people can be to the things that bring about change and growth.

 

I felt the horror once more when on February 1, 2003, Space Shuttle Columbia began its return to earth, only to break up over Texas about 22 minutes before its scheduled landing. Again, seven people died.

And now we have Bozos and William Shatner flying up into lower earth space, playing with balls and flapping around like toddlers in a McDonald's bouncy room. It's hard to take space flight seriously when it's become a playground for the wealthy.

It's not as if you or I will ever go into space. We don't have the money. Our grandchildren, however, may be ferried to the moon as our beautiful orbiting satellite is conquered by the billionaires who will then claim its resources, whatever they are, and send the poor and uneducated, of which there are unfortunately many in the USA, on shuttle ships to bring those resources back.

It is only a matter of time.

We've made a mockery of science and of something that should have been a source of national pride and great joy for all of the world. Stepping out of the earth's atmosphere is a feat performed only in the last 60 or so years. It is beyond extraordinary. It is science at its finest. It is mankind's greatest achievement.

And today we treat it like a toy.

What a shame. What a crying, damn, shame.

I still watch space flights. We have them a lot, SpaceX flights taking food to the men and women manning the International Space Station. I watch those. I don't watch Bozos or Musk. I don't watch the rich men's toys.

Space, to me, belongs to everyone. All of us can look up at the vastness of the night sky and look at the moon. We can reach out and try to touch a star. This delight, this divine and not-yet-understood realm of reality, should not be owned by anyone.

We all own it, each of us, who can look up in the sky and dream.