The end of an era (and a dream)
By David Krueger
Thursday was a sad day. It was the day that America’s NASA space shuttle program ended with the safe return of the Atlantis crew after 12.5 days in space.
The Atlantis touchdown was extraordinary and historic. A large crowd gathered at Cape Canaveral in Texas to watch the return of the four-person crew (three men and one women), that took off on July 8, and witness the end of the American space shuttle era.
Their mission was to dock at the International Space Station with a rocket full of supplies for the space base. The crew was deliberately small, so that the shuttle could hold as many supplies as possible for the space station. Unfortunately, the supplies won’t be used by many, if any, Americans.
For 30 years the United States was one of the leaders – if not the leader – in the race to get to space. During that time we launched 135 missions, the first occurring in 1981.
Some of the missions ended tragically, like the Columbia disaster in 2003, when a shuttle exploded while returning to Earth. Others were so epic they became American legends. Like Neil Armstrong and the first shuttle to land on the moon.
I’m going to estimate that “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” is the second most well-known quote in American history.
“Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” is the clear No. 1.
“Are you ready for some football?” rounds out the top three.
Another larger-than-life episode came during Apollo 13. The shuttle suffered incredible damage during its journey, and was deemed to be unsafe for reentry into the Earth’s atmosphere. Incredibly, it was still able to return safely. The story was made into a book and, about 10 years ago, a great movie.
The Atlantis shuttle returned without incident at 9:55 this morning here in Freetown.
That’s 2:55 a.m. back home in Seattle. I wondered how many of my friends stayed up to watch the memorable return. It was still dark in Texas when it landed. Luckily, the news had a night vision camera focused on the shuttle. That was probably the coolest part of the landing.
I wanted to make sure I saw it because for as long as I can remember growing up I wanted to be an astronaut. Although, it actually wasn’t my first choice for a future career.
When I was a kid early on in primary school, we were all asked to talk about what we wanted to be when we grew up. I hadn’t quite arrived at journalist yet. I thought about it for a while, and then the answer became very clear.
“I want to be a fire truck,” I announced.
When my parents, teacher and friends informed me it was impossible to be a machine for the rest of my life, I went with the same answer almost half the class said: astronaut.
Can you imagine a cooler office than a space shuttle that’s orbiting the Earth? I can’t. The Awoko office is great, don’t get me wrong. But I’m a firm believer that everything is better in space.
I don’t know why NASA is closing the space shuttle program. Budget cuts I guess. It’s better to stop that program than one that provides healthcare or education. It’s still too bad though. What will kids aspire to be in school now that they can’t be a fire truck or astronaut?
As I sat and watched the landing on Al Jazeera, I couldn’t help but wonder what’s next? Not just for my dream of someday going into space, but what about all of NASA’s employees? There is about to be a huge wave of unemployed rocket scientists in Cape Canaveral.
Fortunately, the anchor of the morning news had the same questions. According to one expert, NASA will still be, well, NASA. They will work with private companies (who will hire those rocket scientists) to once again get Americans back into space.
The man on television estimated by 2015/16, the United States will again be taking off for outer space. First commercial flights will lunch, followed soon after by shuttles that will finally carry ordinary people into space.
I just hope I’ve won the lottery by then so I can afford to go.
While watching what I’m going to call the Atlantis Landing Postgame Show (followed, two hours later by a press conference which we’ll dub the Atlantis Landing After Party), I thought about the look on my friends’ faces in eight years when I tell them that for my 30th birthday I’m going to go to space.
I imagine my mother will probably protest. She gets nervous when I leave the country. It’ll be interesting to see her reaction when I tell her I’m leaving the planet.
Oh well. That’s future David’s problem. And while it’s true that current David probably wasn’t going to go into space anytime soon, it was still a sad realization as Atlantis came to a stop on the runway.
At the Atlantis Landing After Party they announced the actual shuttle will be on display at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. That’s a place I’m going to have to visit sometime in my life. Maybe when I’m older and have kids. I can point to Atlantis and tell them about how I saw it land one sunny morning in Sierra Leone.
Then we’ll hop in a space shuttle and head to the moon for my child’s 12th birthday party.
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