I recently read one of the best Space Review essays on Human Space Flight (HSF) I've ever read. The essay was titled Making the Path for Human Spaceflight Less Rocky and it was by Dan Lester; astronomer at University of Texas, participant in NASA strategic planning activities and space essayist. By focusing on creating a path for humanity to leave the planet, Dan Lester manages to create a compelling argument for manned activity in space. The author asks us to measure growth in human spaceflight by steps on this path rather by landings on Near Earth Objects(NEOs) or other planets.
But something bugged me after reading it. The author wrote this as a call to action, asking the space community to answer the question “how do we leave?”. The more I thought about it, the bigger the question seemed to be...
Let's ignore the gravity issues, the life support issues and the cosmic radiation. We have a society, a way of life that can not come close to supporting a spacefaring society. We have key terms to this field like astronomy, space, NASA and ISS either going down in popularity on Google or staying relatively the same, leading more support to Oscar Wilde's famous quote “we're all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars”. But this is a problem, we need more people to look at the stars. If people are too tired to look up, if they have their sense of wonder blow out by working on the treadmills, the space cadets all look insane because so many of our arguments for space rely on the wonder of space. For any of those arguments to work, people have to feel the emotion of looking at a star.
But, that emotion is truly lost. I remember watching a shuttle launch on SpaceVidCast, the only reporter in the NASA press room was the SpaceVidCast crew. Developing a space faring society where rocket launches reported on with as much passion as Paris Hilton getting drunk will take time. It will take time to improve our education enough so that we can support a space based-economy. It will take time to increase the world's safety and strength the world's economy enough so that every human has the time to think about and the money to invest in leaving. But that is what answering how brings us, a path to fix all the societal and technical issues that are preventing space habitation.
This is what makes each shuttle mission, each and every rocket launch is significant. Each launch brings us closer to having the ability to leave, each action we take on the path toward becoming spacefaring slowly dissolves the obstacles the stand on that path. The shuttle mission that the press basically ignored, for example, built up the International Space Station (ISS). This build up allows us to answer the questions we need to answer in order to make a bigger space station which will lead to a moon base then a Mars base and so on. Each launch to the ISS builds up the international trust and cooperation we will need to succeed in space and avoid blowing this planet up into itty bitty, radioactive pieces. So, if we get the public to realize which parts of the answer to “how do we leave the planet” each rocket launch provides, then it will be easy to engage the public.
Answering how is where the Apollo program failed. In my limited knowledge of space history, (I really need to read a book about the Apollo program. My only experience with the history of Apollo is Wikipedia and the impressions I get from other blogs. So be warned and be critical.) Apollo was geared to be a short-term project. This nation went from investing almost nothing into space to pouring money into NASA like there was no tomorrow. After we planted the US flag on the moon, interest drifted and NASA's funding got slashed even though people at NASA where trying to do really cool, neat things (like settling space). But NASA, at the time, was focused on where to go. When they got to that place, the moon, it was mission complete. However, I feel that if Apollo was focused on how do we leave the Earth, it would have never ended, it would have just evolved.
Asking the question Mr. Lester asks prepares us for the long-term dedication becoming a spacefaring society will take. We need to speed of the Apollo program, yes. But what we need more is a slow build up to that speed that will make the Apollo level investment and activity sustainable. Focusing on leaving the planet Earth, always keeping that mission in mind, will inject a long-term viewpoint into the space community. A viewpoint which is key to achieving our dream.
