February 1, 2003

"Yet a nation watched her falling / Yet a world could only cry
As they passed from us to glory / Riding fire in the sky."
--Jordin Kare, "Fire in the Sky"

"Exploration is really the essence of the human spirit."
-- Frank Borman, US astronaut, 10 Jan 69

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When your children's dream become a nightmare, it is just awful. . .

It all seems so easy right? Just climb aboard a shuttle, and just take off. No problem. Then come on back, atmospheric entry. No sweat. A gentle glide, a long rollout, then the happy hugs of your family and friends.

Spaceflight is an all too fragile daisy chain of events, any one of which can ruin your whole day. You can't be too blase about spaceflight.

This morning seven brave adventurers lost their lives. They were living out our dreams. A sad, sad day indeed -- and less than fifteen minutes before mission completion.

Whatever happened must have been quick; I personally pray that it was.

God speed to them all.

The members of the National Space Society worldwide extend their deepest condolences to the families, friends and co-workers of the brave crew of the space shuttle "Columbia."

The fact and irony that the tragedy befalling the 113th U.S. space shuttle mission occurred during the week of commemorations for the 36th anniversary of the Apollo 1 fire (January 27, 1967) and the 17th anniversary of mission STS-51L "Challenger" (January 28, 1986) is not lost on the members of the Society.

In 1986, chief astronaut John Young stated before the Challenger Accident Investigation Committee that sooner or later we would lose other orbiters. Specifically, Captain Young said that they always expected that they might lose a shuttle on return, not on liftoff

After 80 plus flights -- and 17 years since Challenger -- the fact that we haven't lost an orbiter until now (with respect to this tragedy) is a pretty good record in comparison to a greater number of commercial and private airplane crashes that have occurred over the same length of time.

If NASA continues flying these shuttles for the next 10 to 15 years you can bet we'll lose another one.

It's a reminder that spaceflight -- regardless of how blase some of you in the media try to paint it and the rest of the world perceives -- will always remain risky.

I'm reminded of an old "Star Trek" episode wherein Captain Kirk says, "Risk. . .risk is our business." But as he pointed out, the benefits of spaceflight are
potentially so profound that the risk is clearly worth it. Let us hope that those who want the space program budget gutted will be met with defiance, est these good men and women have given their lives in vain.

It is all a part of the risky business of spaceflight. This is a fact the media should continue to emphasize that to the general public.

HOWEVER -- We are still in space. Three of Earth's citizens are still onboard the International Space Station, "Alpha." Obviously, there will be a shuttle stand-down as an Accident Review Board is convened. Then -- hopefully -- we must Return to Flight. The possibility of accidents like this are part of the business of space travel.

It's clear that decisions about the near term future of ISS will need to made shortly. They are well supplied and have safe return to Earth available. The next Expedition crew can go up on the April 25 Soyuz, bumping the visiting crew -- they are trained for that.

There are three alternatives:

a) Bring the current crew down in Soyuz at some point, and leave the station mothballed. However, I'm not sure if the station can maintain itself without a crew.

b) Swap out the current crew with the upcoming taxi crew. There may be an opportunity for a NASA astronaut to take one of the 3 seats on the Soyuz taxi, and to have that crew serve as an interim expedition.

c) Swap out the Soyuz with a new one during the taxi mission, but keep the current crew at ISS for at least three months. In the meantime, the Russians could accelerate work on the subsequent Soyuz, so that it would be ready for launch sooner than the normal 6 months.

I'm not sure which of these is the course that will be taken. I believe that the current situation should require that the President waive the Iran Nonproliferation Act, which forbids payment to the Russians for ISS services.

This should be a real wake up call to the President, members of Congress and even NASA itself that if we're going to have a continued presence in space we need additional options to the shuttle -- something that would allow us to keep flying when accidents like this occur.

With your help, we can work together to educate the general public and those that need to know. . .and make the right decisions in the near future

But for now, let us never forget these brave pioneers. Their spirit of exploration is eternal:

God's brightest blessings on "Columbia" and her crew.

May we never forget them.

"In This Universe The Night was Falling, The Shadows were lengthening towards an east that would not know another dawn.

But elsewhere the Stars were still young and the light of morning lingered; and along the path he once had followed, Man would one day go again."

Regards,
Jim Spellman
NATIONAL SPACE SOCIETY
Western Spaceport Chapter
E-mail: WSpaceport@aol.com
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