What I've learned in 100 shuttle missions

June 11, 2009

It was a quiet day at the Kennedy Space Center where NASA is getting ready for the launch of its 127th space shuttle mission, a construction flight to the International Space Station. 

Coming on the heels of last month’s high-profile Hubble Space Telescope repair flight, this mission’s claim to fame, so far anyway, is a story of numbers: with the shuttle’s seven astronauts joining the newly expanded six-member station crew, a record 13 people will be together in orbit. Slated to last 16 days, the mission also will be among NASA’s longest. The primary goal is to attach a new porch outside the station so that experiments can be exposed to the vacuum of space.

I realize some of you may have nodded off after that summary and that’s sort of the problem the United States has been having with its human space flight program. It has finesse -- how else to describe the engineering achievement of putting together that huge laboratory in orbit? -- but lacks pizzazz. And the benefits of the program are nebulous at best.

A bunch of passionate, intelligent, well-intentioned folks will be getting together beginning next week at the behest of President Obama to figure out, once and for all (again), what this country should be doing with its human space program. That’s a topic for another day.  

As a professional reporter, I shy away from offering an opinion about what I cover, but at the request of my new producer and a couple of friends I am going to make an exception and share some personal thoughts about NASA and the space shuttle program.

I’ll begin by divulging a milestone of my own: This flight is my 100th shuttle mission, making me among a handful of reporters whose days on the space beat date back to the Challenger-era. My first launch 

was the Return-to-Flight mission of Discovery in 1988. I missed one flight to wed and another to give birth, but other than those, for 20-plus years I’ve lived with this program. Sure I’ve groaned about the hours, the travel, the tediousness, but I’ve also witnessed some amazing feats. It’s not the spacewalking, or the other acts of derring-do that get me. It’s the standard of excellence.

Before I became a reporter, I worked as a copy editor at a newspaper. I came to realize that it was a thankless task. If you did a perfect job and found all the typos, fixed all the errors of fact and grammar and coaxed the sentences into pleasing form, the writer is credited for excellent work. If one name appears misspelled or a comma is out of place, than you as the copy editor screwed up. It was zero-sum game. I developed resiliency and came to value feedback so I could learn from my mistakes.

There are fewer and fewer examples of excellence in our country, particularly in government, which tends to make people shrug their shoulders or turn a blind eye to shortfalls due to what we collectively call “the bureaucracy.”  There’s plenty of that going around at NASA, as well, but here’s the thing: When it comes to launching rockets and flying in space, nothing, not even a bureaucracy, dulls the need for excellence. NASA puts it on the line every time the boosters ignite and it does so in live and public view. It doesn’t always succeed, but it doesn’t quit either.

We may not know exactly why we fly in space, but doing so is a tangible reminder of what it means to do our best. I don’t know if that’s a compelling enough reason in this day and age to have a human space flight program, but it’s enough to prompt me to give up a night’s sleep, drive out to the launch site and watch human beings blast off for a world I can only imagine. 

Comments

[Old Bob]

Oh Irene, you ol' softie. Have Todd or Bill give ya a big hug. ;)

[Irene]

: )

I'll do that!

[Nancy Atkinson]

Thanks for hanging in there for 100 missions -- we've all enjoyed your every word!

[David Buchner]

Very cool. Thanks for that bit of perspective. And I appreciated the personal touch.
I think you're exactly right - part of the value spaceflight brings is the example of excellence. You write of people shrugging their shoulders at the un-excellence displayed by government and others - we just *expect* it. There's a depressing lot of cynicism these days, and as a parent I can't afford to resign myself to a future of dull mediocrity. One quality we don't associate with NASA is cynicism.

Oh, and congratulations on your milestone (whenever we finally get to launch).

[David Buchner]

And another thing (what else was I going to do, after getting up early to watch a scrubbed launch, besides spend all morning on the internet?)...

Yes, as a reporter it's entirely correct for you to keep your opinions to yourself ...but I think this "why space?" stuff is maybe some kind of meta-opinion. I mean, you're a *space* reporter. Isn't there a built-in assumption that there's some value, there? Otherwise you wouldn't bother, right?
This isn't one of those issues about who should be fired or hired, or what the budget should be or what kind of rocket should be used.
It's "what's the value of this enterprise in the first place?" and I think the "space beat" press has a proper role to play in communicating that.
It's maybe one of the trickier things to explain to a general audience.
I might add that another institution people have become quite cynical about is journalism. But by spending so much of my time following space news, and as little as possible the "real news," I have the good fortune to regularly read a half-dozen or more reporters I respect, and who seem to embody more of the old-fashioned reporter ideal. You're in some good company, there.

[sul]

Why Space? Silly question. Why did Columbus talk the Queen of Spain into those 3 ships? Why did the children of the original colonests of N. America, who were already living rather comfortably for that time, pick up and head west? Why did the Bear go over the mountain?
Because it's there. Because we must find out.
Is it possible to live on the moon? Is there any kind of life at all on Mars? Is there water there or on the Moon. Can we live and work in orbit and make wonderful discoveries that will help the masses back on Earth or even just be interesting? Can we learn enough about our world and ourselves so we can survive and even thrive away from Earths womb? Can we jigger with that universal Speed Limit and 'burn rubber' out of this solar system, break that speed limit and find, dare I say it, "Strange new worlds, new civilizations and boldly go where no" human "has gone before."?

[BRose]

Why space? I'll tell you why space; we are going to have to find a place for humanity to expand in less than 300 years, if we have a shot at saving ourselves. Man's mind is designed to explore, going into space is as natural as sailing the open seas, not knowing what we'll find. Exploring has put us temporarily on top; exploring is he only thing that will save us. Great article by the way.

[rupesh]

we can devloped here all property of space here in a small lab and check all new devlopment every 1/1000 sec.,
enjoy life don't be make critical life,discovery is simplicity. normal life 60year divide in 4 part and think. we make union and make union govermant of all country.