Like many other Americans, I can't help but feel a little melancholy at the end of the space shuttle program.
Following the return of the space shuttle Atlantis early Thursday, the shuttle fleet has been retired. As Americans turn to foreign nations and the private sector for future manned spaceflight, Atlantis and the remaining space shuttles will become museum pieces, joining relics from the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs as icons of a bygone era of American space exploration.
For those of my generation, the shuttle program WAS the space program. And that's why I think the grounding of the shuttle fleet takes on added significance. Though I was alive for the tail end of the Apollo program, as well as during the SkyLab era, I have no memory of those programs. Indeed, my first first memory of Americans sending humans into space comes from the launch of the space shuttle Columbia in 1981.
I remember watching countless shuttle launches and landings on television in the early days of the program. Back then, they were all televised. The space shuttle was a big deal. There was a poster of the space shuttle on every classroom wall, and a model of the shuttle in every child's bedroom. For those of us who occasionally harbored dreams of growing up to be an astronaut, the space shuttle is what we dreamed of flying.
In the years that followed, more shuttles would go into space, with Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavor joining the American fleet.
The day the Challenger exploded after takeoff will forever be etched into my mind as one of those where-were-you-and-what-were-you-doing moments. In my case, I was in Mrs. Hunt's language arts classroom when the news came. Several years later, I would make a pilgrimage to the memorial to the seven fallen astronauts at Arlington National Cemetery. Tragedy came again in 2003, when the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated during re-entry, killing all on board. I remember spending the morning watching the images on television, seeing the deadly fireball streak across the sky. Another day that won't be forgotten.
My first close-up view of the shuttle came during high school, when my high school band traveled to Florida. We almost got to see a launch one day, but the mission was scrubbed only minutes before liftoff. Still, I got to tour NASA, and see first-hand the history of U.S. space flight, and the space shuttle's central role in it. It was always so inspiring to see the accomplishments of American ingenuity.
In 2007, I got my second shot a seeing a launch, this time on a family vacation in central Florida. Though we were some 60 miles inland from Cape Canaveral, several dozen people still gathered outside our hotel to watch the launch. As launch time arrived, we gazed to the east. Suddenly, somebody said, "There it is!" and we soon saw the shuttle Atlantis streaking into the heavens. Even as routine as shuttle flights had become by then, it was still an awe-inspiring sight, one that drew applause from the hotel crowd.
But such things will be no more. The shuttle is retired. NASA is getting out of the business of sending astronauts to space, outsourcing the job to private companies. Even then, it will likely be several years before private companies begin sending men and women into space. President Obama has spoken of sending astronauts to an asteroid by 2025 and Mars by the mid-2030s, but NASA has yet to even settle on a rocket design.
In other words, the era of the astronaut, as least as we have known it, may be over. It's sad, really. As a kid, an astronaut was one of the coolest things to want to be when you grew up. Now, I wonder if such a vocation will even be a blip on my kids' radar.
I'm well aware of the budgetary issues that surround the government's decisions when it comes to NASA. Still, the idea of an America without a manned spaceflight program is hard to comprehend. Our nation's history has been defined by exploration. Whether it's been sending Lewis and Clark to the West, or sending Armstrong and Aldrin to the moon, America has always stood for the notion of seeing what's out there.
Many dreams and many heroes have been born of that spirit. With the end of the shuttle program, that spirit has been grounded. Let's hope it doesn't stay grounded forever.
aweld@blythevillecourier.com