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50 Years of Innovation Down the Drain

by @thenasaman on Feb 2, 2010 • 1 Comment

As we all know, President Obama released his fiscal year 2011 budget, much to our dismay. In all honesty, there are plenty of advantages and disadvantages to the budget, but most of us are still not happy. I for one, being an educator and a student, am really not happy at the path that is being taken. To put it simply, the United States of America has lost their lead in space.

The big achievement and inspiration for our space program in the 1960s and 1970s was the success of the Apollo program and achieving President John F. Kennedy’s goal. I wish Obama would have the same inspiration and dedication to our space program as Kennedy did before. If the public isn’t interested to start with, how can you expect a program to survive?

NASA’s constellation program was to hopefully be that driving force that would give Americans the inspiration that Kennedy did in the 1960s. Now, the program is cancelled. So, what is going to be our new driving force? Getting rid of your only manned space program was not the smartest idea I’ve ever seen. Plus, there are a few other negatives to that:

You have already invested over $9 billion dollars in the program since 2004 when President George W Bush made his announcement regarding the end of the shuttle program and the new goal to go back to the moon or onto mars, which became NASA’s platform from then on
You are now getting rid of nearly 20,000 jobs of people working on this program, not including those who had worked on the space shuttle before its announced retirement. If the big concern was creating jobs, then why did you just destroy so many?
Upon eliminating another program for NASA, you’re also eliminating the possibility of learning new things and gaining new spinoffs that could develop from this program. If people only realized their prescious cell phones, solar panels, light-weight metal alloys, digital wrist watches, pace maker, artificial knees and hips, satellite radio, etc. came from these programs, maybe they’d give it a second thought.

Now you can see from above why I’m not to thrilled about this plan. What is our new way of supposedly creating new jobs? According to our president and NASA administrator Charlie Bolden, making space privatized opens up more new jobs. Does it open up some? Yes indeed, and any job available in this day and age is a good job, but it’s still fewer jobs than before. Plus, NASA’s manned space program will basically cease to exist onboard our own rockets. From now on, we just provide the men and the training for the private companies and little tips and tricks on what to do.

There are certainly a few positive aspects to this proposed budget which I am grateful for (See, this post isn’t all negative). First, I am very glad at their increase in their funds for NASA’s education program. Anything is helpful, and if we can inspire our newest generation to think about space and pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), then we may just yet be able to save our space program in the future.

I am also grateful for their announcements of keeping funding for unmanned missions such as continuing Hubble as well as more Mars spacecraft. It’s great and I can’t wait to see what they bring back, but that vehicle landing on Mars should, in my opinion, be soon containing humans, but with no more constellation, if it happens, it won’t be NASA. Plus, the ISS will be extended to 2020. We’ll be relying on a Russian Soyuz and private craft, but the science that the station was intended for can finally be the focal point of its existence.

Where NASA will go next has also yet to be announced. It seems that their focus is only on unmanned exploration. There are still the options laid out by the Augustine Commission, such as the Flexible Path, which most people thought was being implemented as soon as the mention of the cancellation of Constellation arose. That has yet to be announced, and if it does ever get announced, it doesn’t seem like it’s going to be under this President and this administration.

Overall, I must say to put it simply in a conclusion, cancelling our manned spaceflight program is the equivalent of taking the brightest brains in the United States, all of the brilliant inventors, and every child that’s ever dreamed of being an astronaut, and completely getting rid of them. I feel this isn’t the right move for the future. Any lead that the United States had in space just burned up on re-entry.

NASA / Space History

NASA’s Darkest Week or Brightest Moments?

by @thenasaman on Jan 28, 2010 • 1 Comment

As most of us know, this week marks a week of NASA which the program is not to pround of. On January 27th, 1967, the 3 person crew of Apollo 1 died in a fire without ever leaving the Earth, as it occured on a practice run at the pad. On January 28, 1986, the space shuttle Challenger went up into a ball of flames after 73 seconds of flight, taking with it its crew of 7 brave men and women, including school teacher Christa McAuliffe. On February 1, 2003, the space shuttle Columbia, NASA’s oldest shuttle, burned up on re-entry taking its crew of seven with it.

All of these happening within 6 days of each other, although occuring in different years. Regardless, it is sad how we lost 17 brave people who had committed themselves to furthering the exploration of space and showing bravery to help try and better our understanding of us and our place in the universe. But, what have we done to honor these crews?

After Apollo 1, NASA had to completely re-think their design of the Apollo crew capsule and the hazards of a 100% oxygen-rich environment. As many people in America doubted the safety and plausibility of getting to the moon, another fear spread throughout the nation of how the Russians and the USSR would completely defeat us in our space race. NASA saw this differently. They did not let White, Grissom, and Chaffe’s death and rebounded full speed, proving the country wrong, and probably saving many more lives by making the capsule design smarter and safer. These lessons have also been used on every single space mission since.

Challenger was a huge blow to the nation. Space shuttle travel seemed so routine that the public lost interest in the program entirely. They figured they needed a way to gain interest in the program again, which they did by starting the teacher in space program, where over 11,000 teachers applied to be the first teacher in space. The winner was Christa McAuliffe, a social studies teacher. NASA was right, it did gain public interest, but it might’ve been the wrong time to do so.

After numerous delays for weather, crosswinds, and landing abort sites, engineers had the daunting task of deciding whether or not to launch in the unseasonably cold temperatures of that January day. Going against the recommendation of Morton-Thiakol, who produced the Solid Rocket Boosters, or SRBs, advised against it because of the possibility of an O-ring malfunction which would be deadly. The heads of the company overruled this decision and launched anyway, which indeed proved to be deadly and a national tragedy. Since then, NASA has been stricter on its launch constraints for temerpature, and have tightened the means of communications on whether to go or not go for launch of a mission. The disaster also spawned Challenger Centers, which continue the teaching mission and are now educating our future generation, our children, about space and how great it is and how useful science and math is to all future generations.

Lastly, the space shuttle Columbia, who flew the first shuttle mission of STS-1 back in 1981, launched on what looked like a perfect launch to the naked eye. However, as high speed cameras would later show, a piece of foam fell off of the external fuel tank. Many engineers after reviewing the launch footage felt that it could be a threat and even arranged for satellite images of the leading edge of the wing that was hit to be examined closer. Figuring it would be a waste of money, time, and resources, NASA vetoed that option, and even joked about it with the crew, who were oblivious to the giant hole punctured in their wing.

As they re-entered the atmosphere, the temperatures became so hot, and they seeped through that whole in the wing, causing the vehicle to break up, killing its crew of 7. True, this showed a lapse in management, but at the same time, it showed how dangerous the current shuttle launch design is. It lead to the initative of a new spacecraft (whatever that may be and whenever it may come out) and also designed new examination tools to look at the heat shield of the shuttle, including the Rendezvous Pitch Maneuver, or the backflip.

Overall, these accidents were all a tragedy and were all horrible, yet had they never happened, we would have most likely had more accidents in the wings just waiting to happen. From each of these came a safety boost, and bettered our space program as a whole, and I think these crews need to be remembered for the contributions they have unknowingly made to the future of the space program.

Education & Public Outreach / Events / Independent Tweetups / Simulation / Social Media / Tweetups / Twitter

A Tweetup in Space? Well, simulated

by @thenasaman on Jan 21, 2010 • 1 Comment

So, you’ve seen the video of the Apollo astronauts heading to the moon aboard their spacecrafts, and you’ve seen the pictures of the people sitting at their consoles monitoring over system settings onboard the spacecraft. Sounds neat, huh? Think you’d want to try that? You can!

Myself, along with @CraftLass are planning a tweetup for anybody who is interested in New York. Included would be a simulated space mission at the Lower Hudson Valley Challenger Center in Airmont, NY (just a short hop from New York City). The mission would involve a 3 hour mission to either the Moon, Mars, or to Rendezvous with Comet Encke.

If you are interested, please either leave a comment or contact myself, @thenasaman, on Twitter. Also, included in that message, please specify which mission choice you would prefer of the three options. If we can get enough people, this will be able to happen. A date has yet to be chosen, so if anything is better than something else, let me know as well. For more information on the Lower Hudson Valley Challenger Center, follow it on Twitter as @LHVCC and of course visit the website, http://lhvcc.com

Human Spaceflight / ISS / NASA / Space Shuttle

A Well Choreographed Ballet or a Recruitment?

by @thenasaman on Nov 27, 2009 • 2 Comments

After having seen just the International Space Station along with the ISS and the space shuttle docked to it, I had yet to see the ISS trailed by any of the three remaining space shuttles. After 6 unsuccessful attempts either due to weather or personal situations, I was getting worried I’d never get to see it, and for mission STS-129, my first information told me the next ISS pass was after space shuttle Atlantis landed.

Talk about disappointment! I thought I’d never get to see it with only 5 shuttle flights left. Then, a true miracle. On this Thanksgiving in the United States, I must say I am thankful for Twitter and luck. While bored out of my mind at a family get-together, I went onto Twitter on my iPod Touch, and saw a mention from @twisst, which notifies a person when the ISS will be near, and it said 5:05pm EST. I nearly threw my iPod in the air out of excitement. I might get to see them pass!

As it became 5:00, I gathered a few of my family members who were interested in seeing the two spacecraft pass overhead. I open the door, and my jaw drops. No, I didn’t see the ISS or Atlantis, but I did see lots of clouds. Getting worried, I got off the porch and into the driveway, where there was a slight break in the clouds…right where the two spacecraft were supposed to be.

I looked up, nearly in pain, and saw it was 5:07. I started to turn to go inside, and sure enough, I misread the information and was looking at the wrong part of the sky (and apparently my watch is fast) and out of the clearing in the clouds, a beautiful white streak that I have seen in the past crossed the sky. Suddenly, looking exactly where the ISS came from, 10 seconds later, a second dot appeared, and unbelievably, I was seeing both the ISS and Atlantis separated and trailing each other.

As we called out more members of our family, I started to describe to everyone that there were astronauts living aboard the ISS and returning home tomorrow on the space shuttle. While describing, I continued to look up. I thought to myself that it looked like a magnificent ballet that was going on, which was well choreographed as the two bright, shining dots danced gracefully across the sky and behind the clouds following right behind each other, many of us unaware that this dance is really 250 miles over our heads traveling at 17,500 miles per hour.

As the two disappeared in the night sky, some of the famiy went back inside. Yet, surprisingly, many people stayed outside and continued to talk to me about amazing it was that they saw exactly what they did. Sure enough, every single one of my 15 relatives outside never knew you could see either of the craft with your own naked eye. A few were probably ashamed to admit they had no idea what the International Space Station was. Two family members even commented that had I not pointed it out, they would’ve just taken them to be two airplanes awfully close together and not blinking.

Regardless of their prior knowledge, there was plenty of interest in what was going on, and once they saw it for the first time, they became hooked, and a thirst for more knowledge came upon them, asking me tons of questions. Probably the best part is that these family members were mixed in ages. Some hadn’t even left elementary school yet, while others were already retired, and yet every single one of them were amazed, and it turned them all into little kids in a candy store as they became interested in what was going on.

So, I write this for two main reasons. One because I was just struck by the amazing beauty of the two spacecraft floating across the sky together. The second and probably most important reason is that this story shows that people are really interested in what’s going on in space, whether they know it or not. It just has to be brought to their attention. So, the moral of this story is that if we want people to support our space program and maintain an interest in space like there was back during the Cold War era, then all we need to do as a community is to get people to look up and show them what is up there and maybe that little glimmer can spark an interest in all generations, just as it did to all of us who are members of this society.

Commercial Space / NASA / Opinion / Space Policy

Has NASA become PASA (Private)…Que PASA?

by @thenasaman on Nov 4, 2009 • 1 Comment

Lately, it appears that NASA has been promoting many private companies to reach for the stars. NASA has been giving a lot of attention to the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge (NGLCC) as well as the Space Elevator Games…and oh yeah, STS-129 launches in 2 weeks.

I find it to be great that NASA is promoting the privatized space industry, but when its own programs are struggling on the funding that they are getting, shouldn’t they be focusing on their own problems right now? The Augustine Committee, which met over the summer to discuss options of where NASA should go, has clearly stated that on their current budget, they don’t have enough funding for their Ares I and Ares V rockets, the next generation after the shuttle retires in 2010, to get it off the ground until possibly after they de-orbit the ISS.

Now, I am not saying at all that I don’t believe space travel shouldn’t be privatized so citizens can go into space. In fact, along with spaceflight participant Richard Garriott, who I had the pleasure to talk with on this subject, I agree compeltely that the future should belong to privatized space travel, so that ordinary people can get their chance to feel what it’s like to go into space.

What I am trying to say, though, is that NASA should start focusing on its own issues, between one of its Mars rovers, Spirit, being stuck on the red planet and suffering from occasional spurts of “amnesia”, and the fact that 2010 is the last time the Space Shuttle is supposed to fly, and that we will only have Russia to rely on after that for human spaceflight. Plus, the budget that they are working off of won’t be able to extend the shuttle until 2011 or even continue to get us to the moon by 2020!

So, as great and amazing as these competitions for private space travel are, and as much as I personally support what they’re doing, I think that NASA should stick to their own space program, and leave the private space travel to those who have the budget and the time to devote to it.

NASA / Opinion / Space Policy

Cash for Clunkers…Does NASA count?

by @thenasaman on Aug 13, 2009 • No Comments

The government has recently announced its plan to give drivers money for cashing in their old, unwanted clunkers of cars for a government rebate check of almost $4500 if you qualify. Well, if the government can hand out money to private citizens to get a new car, why can’t the government give one of its own divisions money to help improve itself? The National Aeronautics and Space Administration back during the Apollo days composed of almost 4% of your taxes! During todays economy, NASA gets less than 1% of your tax dollars. So, should NASA get a government check to keep it going? What is NASA’s next step?

Just recently, it was announced that NASA’s division of NEO, or Near Earth Object, trackers do not have enough money to track all of the asteroids that have a posibility of making an encounter with the Earth too close for comfort. This lack of money causes even greater concerns with manned spaceflight missions. If STS-128 and Shuttle Discovery need to be rolled back to the Vehicle Assembly Building for further External Tank inspections, the launch could be pushed to October, which is the same month where another 900 employees who work on the shuttle program will be laid off. Should we be concerned about this? The obvious and correct answer is “heck yes we should”. Our president knows this and agrees with it, and is finally taking action.

President Barack Obama proposed a committee to examine all of the possible places the manned space program could go, and to come back to him with their decision. This committee became the Augustine Commission, lead by Norman Augustine along with many other large members of the space community, such as Dr. Sally Ride, also the first US woman in space who flew on STS-7. It was stated that each of these meetings must be done in public with the exception of minor factors, and in agreeing with that requirement, traveled to different places in the US holding public meetings regarding whether to remain in Low Earth Orbit, the fate of the ISS, and the benefits of going to the moon or to mars along with many other topics. It was also important that they heard the community, as they ended each session with the public’s comments.

Now, the real question remains…what will the committee’s conclusion be, and will the President along with NASA Administrator Charles Bolden follow through with their recommendations? The best thing for now is that President Obama realizes that space exploration is important, along with peaking interest in Americans by giving them money for their old cars. Now, if only Obama could combine the two, and get public interest in space, while giving good old NASA its own rebate check to follow through on the Augustine Committee’s recommendation, whatever it may be.

NASA / Opinion / Space Exploration / Space Policy

What is NASA? We know, but does the public?

by @thenasaman on Aug 3, 2009 • 3 Comments

Ask any space tweep if they know much about space, and most likely, you will get a paragraph for a response. Ask any random person in the public, and you’ll most likely just get an evil glance or a stammer. If they do know anything, they may tell you that Lance Armstrong was the first person on the moon. So, is NASA doing as great of a job as they can getting the word out about space?

The public is greatly losing interest in the American space program. During the stimulus plan that was created by President Obama, most major news networks posted on their lists that NASA received a decent sum of money. Unfortunately, most networks placed that on there just to point out the stupidity of where the president is spending tax payers money. Does this mean that to get people not to hate the space program, rather than Obama spending money on NASA, do we first have to get him to spend money to start a new cold war, maybe with China this time?

There are certain memories that many people have of our space program. Ask anybody who was alive in 1969 and old enough to understand what was going on where they were when man landed on the moon, they can tell you every detail. Yet, most of us tweeps that use the internet and twitter weren’t alive during that. Most of us, though, were alive to remember the negatives of our space program, such as the Challenger explosion or the less-remembered Columbia accident. So those that do have memories of where our space program is remember the bad, not the good.

NASA definelty needs to change their ways. The first being that their main way of communicating video events is by NASA TV, which is avaliable online or by satellite. The web address online isn’t even that easy to access, and only a few people that I know personally have satellite TV. Making it a more mainstream channel with more exciting files than kids trying to solve mysteries is one simple step to take. Another way is to have large events that entertain the public and actually benefit them. They want to know how space can help them now. Sometimes the best way to do it is to have a little fun with themselves. The perfect example is comedian Stephen Colbert of Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report. He had his campaign to name the new ISS Node 3 Colbert. Sicne then, NASA has decided to name their new treadmill C.O.L.B.E.R.T. in his honor. You can guess that this launch will probably be more noted than others for this reason.

Next is to come up with an exciting destination. After the moon, the Apollo astronauts thought that by 2000 we would be going to the moon. Instead, we decided to go to Low Earth Orbit (LEO). Great thought to NASA, but not to those down on the Earth, and even the 12 astronauts that walked on the moon, who wished to go further. Trying to keep with the craze of 2001: A Space Oddysey, we tried Skylab and Mir, both huge garbage heaps in space which soon littered the Earth.

It seems the only real way to get interest is to set our sights on a new destination, not an expensive moon base. I share the same beliefs as Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin, who feels Mars should be our next destination. Who knows what is actually there. In 2003/2004, interest grew in space with Spirit and Opportunity, and their discoveries. This shows we still have an interest, and maybe people on Mars is the next best thing. Is it really? The only way to tell is to skip the moon and go to Mars. What about the ISS? Well, that’s another story, but there is still the option of keeping our international partners and using their aid to go to the red planet.

Whatever steps NASA takes, there will be scrutiny, but if it gets the public interest, I say go for it. Curiosity may have killed the cat, but curiosity is why we go beyond our Earth, and people need to realize that.