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June 30, 2005
Get back in the game . . .
Transterrestrial Musings points us to a media roundup on the recent NASA safety panel findings.
LOOK! Space travel is dangerous. We little humans have developed to live on this little blue green marble, third planet from the sun. For us to up and decide to leave this rock is a huge step and totally alien to our previous experiences on the planet (ok, small pun noticed, but not intended). Strapping humans to rockets and accelerating them to speeds faster than a rifle bullet, exposing them to the vacuum of space, and then dropping the back through the atmosphere in a firery descent, then finally fly amost a quarter of the way around the world as the worlds biggest glider. THAT'S A CRAZY DANGEROUS STUNT. It's a battle against physics.
The FACT that people have and will continue to DIE exploring space is something that we have to come to grips with. The Astronauts KNOW that they are "strapped to a rocket with over 30,000 moving parts all made by the lowest bidder". They understand that thousands of systems, checklists, and safeguards must be followed to the letter and missing any one of them may wind up in a dramatic snuffing. The Astronauts also understand that no space vechicle system is 100% safe.
A close family member of mine called her former NASA boss when the Challenger blew up. She figured that since he was a prominent figure in the development of the shuttle program, he'd have an idea. As one would expect, he was quite busy in the chaos, but he took her call.
"It was the O-rings."
That was his comment just hours after the Challenger disaster. The thing is folks, and the media needs to realize this. We know where ALOT of the weaknesses in the Space Program are. We know that a joint in a solid rocket booster is a potential point of failure. We know that if a enough heat-shield tiles fall off the shuttle it'll burn up in re-entry. We also know that 10's of thousands of other major and minor systems coud fail along the way and create disaster.
We'll never make space exploration 100% safe. In fact, for some time now IT WILL BE VERY DAMN DANGEROUS. More people will DIE in very dramatic fashion as we continue to figure out how to get off this rock. There's a concept called "acceptable risk" and every day we use it consciously and un-consciously. We decide to accpet the risk of an auto-accident when we drive to the store, we accept risks bungee jumping, playing golf, knitting a sweater.
The calls for NASA to be "safer" are a little overdone. A "safe" program wouldn't be a useful one. We can have an eye to "safety" and work for a safe return of every explorer, but we've also got to take risks. That's an inherent part of exploration. We're travelling into the great unknown, facing new, seen and unforseen dangers. This is a necessary evil of exploration.
People need to accept this, because we need to get off this rock for a number of reasons, too many for this post, and these pioneers know how dangerous it is, and they analyze the acceptable risks. The media needs to back off and let us move forward, get the shuttles flying again (even if we lose another one in a few years), and keep our space program moving forward.
It's been too long since we've seen a video of intrepid American asronauts pushing the envelope of manned exploration of the heavens. For me, the site of the shuttle roaring off the pad is an affirmation that humans as a species are moving forward. I can't wait to feel that way again.
--Jason
Posted by JasonColeman at June 30, 2005 12:15 PM
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» Space shuttle comments from Half Sigma
The following comments, from blogger Jason Coleman, about the Space Shuttle program are common sentiments, but not ones I agree with (link to his post): People need to accept this, because we need to get off this rock for [Read More]
Tracked on June 30, 2005 2:23 PM
