[LeArc] Question for the group

[Joe Rossmiller]

A question Dave.  After you've been to the scene of a fatal accident, do you
feel nervous the next time you get in a car?  I don't imagine you do.  I'm
sure the crew aboard the International Space Station are the same.  I would
think they feel a lot of grief right now over the lost of their friends.
Nervous, I doubt it.  Unlike most of us, they truly know the risk of space
travel, and accept it.

What bothers me is the reaction from so many that due to the deaths on
Saturday, we should stop all space flight.  You hear that it is too
expensive.  Too dangerous.  A waste of taxpayer's money that we get little,
if anything from in return.

The space program is not really that expensive.  I remember a statistic from
back in the 1970s.  More money was spent, a quarter at a time, on the video
game "Space Invaders" per year than the entire cost of the space program
during the same time period.  A billion dollars sounds like a lot, until you
break it down per person.  Like Illinois Senator Dirkson once said, "A
billion dollars here, a billion dollars there, and soon your talking real
money."

As far as danger.  All exploration is dangerous.  Traveling to Illinois was
very dangerous in 1800.  But if people had not taken the risk, we wouldn't
be living here today.

And as far as not getting any returns, the space program helped create the
technology in the computer you are using, and the radios in your shack.
Plus countless other items you use everyday.  Oh sure, we would have
developed them sooner or later.  But thanks to the space program, we have
them now.  Outside of war, the space program has pushed technology forward
faster than anything else.  Which would you prefer?  (And you may not
believe it, but I typed that last line before the thought of Iraq even came
into my mind.)

And strangely, the computers on your desk are much more powerful than the
ones in the shuttle.  Last I knew, they were still using 386 based
processors on the shuttle.  That was a couple of years ago, so they may be
updated now.  But the computers on the shuttle will still be based on
technology several years old.  Why?  Because space is a harsh environment.
Before NASA will fly anything new, it has to undergo several years of
testing to be sure it can stand up to the radiation it will be exposed to in
space.  You can't be too safe, which is what we all found out last Saturday.


January 27, 1967   Apollo One Fire.  Gus Grissom, Ed White, Roger Chaffee.

January 28, 1986   Challenger.  Francis Scobee, Michael Smith, Judith
Resnik, Ellison Onizuka, Ronald McNair, Gregory Jarvis, Sharon (Christa)
McAuliffe.

February 1, 2003   Columbia.  Rick Husband, Kalpana Chawia, William McCool,
David Brown, Laurel Clark, Michael Anderson, Ilan Ramon.

All gave their lives so that someday we all might be able to complete the
journey they began.


----- Original Message -----
From: "Dave Nissen" <mcsok9@winco.net>
To: "LEARC" <learc@mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Sunday, February 02, 2003 8:59 AM
Subject: [LeArc] Question for the group


> See http://www.qsl.net/learc/ for club information.
>
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> Next meeting February 11, 2003.
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> Please join us on Sunday Evenings for the
> Lamoine Emergency ARC Sunday Evening Net.
> Net time is 8:00 PM local time.
>
>
> Greetings..
>
> I, along with many others, was watching the news account of the tragic
incident yesterday. While I watched I had a question pop into my head and
couldn't find the answer.. I wonder if anyone else would know..
>
> There are 3 people that are now in the space station, 2 Americans and 1
Russian I think. Anyway, I was wondering how are these folks gonna get back
to Earth now? NASA has publicly said that it will be "some time" before the
space shuttle will fly again. So that an investigation as to the cause of
the disaster can be made and repairs/improvements can be started and
completed.
>
> If I was one of the people in the space station I would be just a little
nervous right now.
>
> Thoughts  --  comments
>
> Your mileage may vary
>
> 73
> Dave de W9COP
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