"We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard..." -President John F. Kennedy
"Why? Is this the WAST? WAUNCH. of the space shuttoo?" asked a kid during the Question and Answer portion of the Astronaut Encounter session at Kennedy Space Center. We all inwardly chuckled as this kid was obviously dumbfounded that they would stop flying shuttles to outer space and back. When I saw the microphone be placed in his little hand to ask a question, I thought, "oh...this is gonna be good," because I had been eavesdropping on his and his mom's conversation before the lights went out in the theater. He used his biggest, best, outdoor, recess voice in a microphone that was tuned for the softest of voices. He made sure to articulate as best he could with pauses in between words.
I wanted to know, too. But as an adult, and as all adults know, it all comes down to money. Which is basically the answer he was given by Astronaut Jim Reilly, who was a veteran of three shuttle missions. As I listened to him speak about his flight experience, I was filled with pride for my country, which in the recent past had waned. All I seem to hear lately is how schools are failing, the United States is ranked behind this country or that country in math and science, that kids are being "left behind," and that our country is failing.
I've been interested in space since childhood. I wasn't obsessed and I didn't glue myself to news about NASA, I wasn't a complete Geek (just a partial geek), but I was very aware of the space race since it all occurred during my early childhood and news about it was usually on the TV. I was born in the same year Neil Armstrong stepped on the Moon. It was on my birthday (two years before I was born) that the Apollo astronauts burned alive in the very capsule that was supposed to protect them from death. Along those lines, it was the day after my 17th birthday, when I was at school in my drill team uniform practicing our half-time routine that we learned of the explosion of the space shuttle, Challenger, and the death of all the astronauts and teacher, Christa McAuliffe. I vividly remember reading about her in People magazine before the flight and thinking about how cool that would be and wishing she was my teacher. I will always remember when Ms. Doughty came out to tell us.
When the shuttle program began in the early 80s I was an elementary school student. After the first space shuttle, Columbia, launched, in 1981, I wrote to NASA. I have no idea what I said, but a few weeks later a large envelope from NASA was in our mailbox! And it was addressed to ME! It contained beautiful pictures of stars and planets. I loved them so much and considered myself so lucky to have received them, that I rarely took them out of the package and no one (I mean NO ONE) else was allowed to touch them. In sixth grade, I wanted to do my science fair project on space, so my mom took me to Woolworth's to buy supplies. I knew exactly what I wanted to do: make a mock-up of the solar system and maybe (MAYBE) use some of my precious NASA photos for background. We couldn't find everything so I asked a clerk, who was up on a ladder hanging something from a ceiling, "Do you have styrofoam balls?" In the next second my mom was cracking up and the man nearly fell off the ladder. I needed 10 of them in various sizes so I could make them into the sun and planets. What was so dang funny?
Ever since seeing the launch and successful landing on TV, I thought it would be "neat" to see that someday. Well, Someday is here. I became so wrapped up in my own life, my own education, career, and marriage, I forgot about space. Sure, I knew astronauts were flying the space shuttle and doing who-knows-what from news blurbs and brief radio announcements. One morning about a year ago, I was making my sack lunch and heard on the news that the shuttle had successfully launched and that there were only 3 launches left before the end of the program. It took 5 seconds for that to register. I dropped the knife and backed up the story. Sure enough, she had said what I thought she said. The shuttle program was coming to an end after 30 years. The Space Transportation System was to be no more. It hit me like a bolt of lightening: I might not ever see a launch.
THIRTY YEARS!? How could that be?? So I started googling and facebooking to get information and eventually made a plan to travel to Kennedy Space Center in Florida to fulfill my life-long dream "to see the shuttle launch someday." So was everyone else, including people from all over the world. I scanned the internet, gathered information, and decided to plan our trip to Florida for the final launch of Discovery on November 1, 2010, which fell right smack in the middle of the busiest time of year for a first grade teacher--assessment, report cards, and conferences. Well, I thought, something has to give, and it's not going to be my only chance to see a launch. So I made it happen.
I worked my teacher magic, prepared to be gone for 5 days, completed all assessments, and got conferences scheduled. The day before leaving, I finally told my students where I was going and what I was doing. I began with my early childhood impressions and told them about what the space shuttle is and why I wanted to see it launch, that I wanted to witness history. There were some questions..."What if it doesn't have enough gas to get up there?" "What is a space shuttle?" (are you kidding me) One girl burst out crying, but most were very excited. I was surprised (and a little appalled) at how many knew absolutely nothing about it. But that issue is a subject for another blog...
The trip started off with much excitement. Finally! We were on our way! I could almost hear those solid rocket boosters igniting. I knew full well that the mission could be scrubbed completely, our trip ruined, our money spent and gone. I had low expectations and told myself that if I could just see the shuttle up close the trip would be worth it.
We arrived in Florida late at night and had to get up early for our tour to Kennedy Space Center. Once there, we got on another bus and went directly to the launch pad viewing gantry. There she was, Discovery, 3 miles away. Her back was to us, but I was actually looking at the real deal! We took so many photos you'd have thought I was a super model on a photo shoot. I didn't want to leave. What a beautiful, perfect, warm, sunny day. We completed our tour after a few more hours, during which we viewed the Saturn V rocket from the Apollo days, watched videos and viewed displays, and basically filled our brains to capacity. With our brains full and our stomachs empty, we headed back to the visitor complex to eat.
Each day, we checked the internet only to discover the launch was again re-scheduled. Every 24 hours it seemed we had to check in. Then she was ready to launch on Thursday, but wait, it's supposed to rain. Ugh! Sure enough, it was postponed to Friday, our last day in Florida. We got up Friday morning, checked the internet, and sure enough, she was "go for launch!" Yippee!! We anxiously packed and raced to Titusville. On our way, the radio announced the scrub of the mission due to a hydrogen leak. Like the day I heard about the end of the program, it took a few seconds to register, as I was so happily drinking my coffee and dreaming of those rocket boosters.
I thought I heard wrong. HUH? It's scrubbed? Why does "scrubbed" mean cancelled? When we arrived at the park where we planned to view it and saw people leaving, I knew. It was over and I wasn't going to see it. I began to cry, but tried very hard not to. But I couldn't believe it. Even though I knew before ever leaving Sacramento that this could happen, it was still a shock.
Wait, we only had to fly 7 hours to get here and our flights were free. What about all the people who came from Australia, Europe, and other exotic locales? At least I didn't have to fly 25 hours to get home, at least I didn't have to spend thousands on airfare and have jet lag that lasts forever. I don't think I know of any programs in any countries other my own. I was barely aware of my own country's space program but people from other countries are fully aware of it. Shame on me.
I returned home and went back to my classroom to tell the kids the news. I learned that they had been asking their substitute teacher if it had launched. They had been asking their parents about it. They checked out library books about space. Could it be that I'd sparked an interest?! In my own quest to fulfill this dream of mine, un-lofty as it is, I've made previously unaware people, students and their parents, aware of the space program, and maybe (MAYBE) Someday, I'll see one of my former students flying the next generation of space craft!
John Kennedy said, "We set sail on this new sea because there is new knowledge to be gained, and new rights to be won, and they must be won and used for the progress of all people." Taken out of the space race context in which it was uttered almost 50 years ago, it applies even now. I hope that President Kennedy's words will echo in future president's ears and they will have a vision for our country to once again be at the forefront of science, education, and equal rights for all.
There exists a new NASA space program called Constellation and it uses the Orion space vehicle. It uses existing Shuttle and Apollo components, but "On February 1, 2010, President Barack Obama announced a proposal to cancel the program, effective with the U.S. 2011 fiscal year budget, but later announced changes to the proposal in a major space policy speech at Kennedy Space Center on April 15, 2010. Obama signed the NASA Authorization Act 2010 on October 11 which officially brought the program to an end." Do you think if I forward Kennedy's Space Speech to President Obama, he'll change his mind?
NASA's space program has helped us people here on Earth, something I didn't know until my visit to KSC. Everybody knows about velcro, but I didn't know the development of major life-changing, life-improving, and life-saving gadgets such as artificial limbs, silicon, eye-glass anti-scratch and UV coatings, heart monitors, ultra sound, and all of our technological advances in personal computers, cell phones and internet were all due to NASA.
Well, I'll be up in the wee hours of the night on November 30th at to watch the final launch of Discovery at 1:05 a.m. on NASA TV. It will be the most expensive, furthest travelled, most anticipated, 30 second long, TV-show viewing EVER!
I'm so inspired by NASA I created jewelry. If you're curious, visit my etsy shop at
https://www.etsy.com/listing/76775419/small-space-shuttle-necklace
Links:
President Kennedy's Space Speech: http://www.historyplace.com/speeches/jfk-space.htm
Constellation Program: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/constellation/main/index.html
Kennedy Space Center: http://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/
