The Last Flight of the Shuttle: End of an Era, and the much-delayed begining of the next

I delayed going to work for 45 minutes today so I could watch the last launch of the Space Shuttle. As I watched the picture-perfect launch, I tried to analyze my feelings.  Surprisingly, I was neither sad nor disappointed.  I watched every launch I could over the last 30 years, and despite the beauty inherent in watching the majestic ship climb to orbit, I have come to believe that the Space Transportation System, despite 135 launches, not a success. In fact, I have come to believe that, historically, its claim to fame will be the last manned rocket ever designed by NASA.

Exploration is expensive.  It has always been expensive.  It is also risky.  Very risky.  Risky in terms of return on investment.  Risky in terms of human safety.  When you sail into the unknown, you need to be ready for anything, and most of the time you find nothing.  And if you do find something new, you aren't prepared for it, since it is new and nothing you could have anticipated.

When asked about the cost and risk of manned space flight, most astronauts talk of the human spirit of exploration.  How mankind cannot help but look beyond the next hill.  But in reality, only a very small percentage of mankind has that drive.  Most people are content to stay home and watch the exploits of these few (and in their minds, crazy) people on TV.  Mankind appreciates exploration, but only a tiny sliver of it actually participates in it.

So it should come as no surprise that when asked to choose between a risky, expensive venture or something a little more of a "sure thing", politicians have a tendency to put their money into things other than exploration.  Time and time again, projects have been cancelled due to lack of funding.  NASA, in turn, has attempted to control the one factor it could:  Safety.  Remove the risk to life, and exploration becomes more of a sure thing.  It also becomes much more expense, since these things tend to balance out.

And so the Shuttle moved, over the years, from a system to quickly and inexpensively explore space to a system that was as safe as money could buy and thus hideously expensive.  Lack of funding prevented the construction of additional, upgraded shuttles, so the overall design never progressed beyond the prototype.  NASA was never able to leverage lessons learned on the hardware side in a way that could have really transformed the shuttle into what it was intended to be.

But that's OK, because its mission is over, in any case.  We're done exploring low earth orbit, and we have been for some time.  It's time for the next phase.

Getting back to history, once the explorers have begged, borrowed, or stolen the funds necessary for their expeditions, gone and returned (sometimes a few times), their stories make their way to the next brand of crazy people:  The Pioneers.  Pioneers are more common than explorers, and they're the hardy souls that go where the explorers have gone, and stay there.  They are the first settlers of any new place.

Pioneers differ from explorers in several very important ways:  Firstly, they tend to be self-funded.  They are families or organizations that put together the resources necessary to go where the explorers have gone.  They also expect to profit from this, otherwise they won't go.  In the case of low earth orbit, it is now the time of the Pioneers.

Companies all over the US and the world are springing up with the intent to profit from manned space flight.  Virgin Galactic, SpaceX, Bigelow Aerospace, Boeing, and others are all committed to settling low earth orbit. These pioneers know what to expect in orbit.  The exploration of near space has delivered a wealth of information on the hazards and prospects of the frontier. Even so, not all the pioneers will succeed.  It is still a risky business, but it is a groundswell movement, not dependent on the votes of risk averse politicians, that once begun in earnest, will not stop.  Others will follow, armed with the knowledge that success is possible.

Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavor will be names memorized by children, along with the Pinta, Nina, and Santa Maria.  But the time has come for the Mayflower, and brave colonies on the shores of a brave new world.

New Item for Trade: 1937 King George VI coronation commemorative cream jug

This authentic creamer jug was produced to commemorate the coronation of King George VI.  George the VI was the subject of the recent blockbuster film "The King's Speech"  The illustration says "May 12th" and "Coronation 1937" with pictures of the royal couple.

Acquired by trade of: one Red Paperclip

The Romance of Space

The dream of space travel has been one of the constants of the 20th, and now the 21st, century.  The notion that daring and capable men and women will go out beyond what the rest of humanity knows, out into a great unknown, to see things no one else has seen, and do things that no one else has done, captured the imagination of the world and never let go.  Buck Rogers, Captains Kirk, Picard, Sisko, and Janeway, the Space family Robinson, Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and characters from a dozen modern sci fi shows from Battlestar Galactica to Dr. Who to Farscape to Stargate all embodied this notion, this dream, that there were fantastic things to be done in space, and that one day we would get to do them.

The reality has not lived up to our expectations.  As brave and capable as the astronauts have been, it always seemed that something was missing.  Some spark, some undescribable thing, was missing.  The astronauts were there, taking their first steps into the void, but after Apollo 11, things just didn't live up to our expectations any more.

Part of it is the inescapable fact that reality is never as fantastic as the dream of it.  Dreaming about going somewhere, anywhere, is almost always more romantic than doing it.  No mosquitoes, no getting lost or running out of gas.  The same is true for space travel.

Another part of it is that space travel has stagnated for 40 years.  Until very recently, no new rockets had been developed for decades.  Atlas, Delta, the Space shuttle, Soyuz, and Ariane have all been around for decades.  Policies and procedures have hardened to dogma under the guise of crew safety, which was held as THE single most important thing.  Not exploration, not progress, not prestige, not any of the banners under which men and women have repeated worked and sacrificed and died for, but safety.  A laudible goal, but ultimately self-defeating, since the safest thing to do is stay on the ground.

But the biggest reason why space travel has not lived up to its dream is that there is no mystery to it.  No unexpected discoveries, no alien planets never seen before by man, nothing left to chance. Our intrepid astronauts are traveling bravely into the KNOWN.  If they go back to the moon, their landing sites will have been mapped out robotically down to the pebble.  They will know exactly what to expect.  And so will we, as armchair observers watching over their shoulders.  And we cannot help but be disappointed.

To explore, we must go farther than we can see.  Beyond the horizon.  Over the next hill.  Around the next bend.  The lunar adventure I'm hoping to join goes beyond the horizon  It may not be safe, but it is prestigious, and it is progress.  It is exploration, and setting sail in a tiny ship beyond the confines of Earth to see the side of the moon perpetually hidden from Earth has all the mystery, risk, and romance you could ask for.

Item for Trade: Circa 1977 Star Wars Notebook

This 8.5 x 11 ringed notebook features good ole' Han and Chewie looking for trouble on the front cover.  It was part of the Star Wars themed school supplies for the theatrical release of Star Wars Episode 4 back in 1977.  There's masking tape with my name on it on the cover, and the binding and edges are a little ragged, but other than that, it's in good shape.

If you're interested in trading for this item, make me an offer in the comments.

Acquired in trade of:  Nothing

Defining the Goal

First of all, a big thank you to all who liked me or shared me on facebook, and who are following the blog.  Success of this will depend on this going viral, so keep up the good work!

Also, I have my first trade offer!  I'll be organizing the site so that the item(s) for trade will always be visible, but in the mean time, I have an offer to trade a red paperclip for a King George VI coronation cream jug.  Given the recent Royal Wedding, I'm hoping this item will be in demand.

I also thought that laying out some goals and guidelines would be a good idea.  My goal is really to get into space, or into the space technology area.  This can be one of the following:

1. The translunar voyage offered by Space Adventures (www.spaceadventures.com) starting in 2015.  Getting this would be the best possible outcome.  10 days on the space station followed by a trip around the moon.
2. The International Space Station (or any future space station) visit, currently only offered by Space Adventures.  Currently the only way to pay to get into space commercially.  I'd take this if it was offered to me.
3. Suborbital flight.  Virgin Galactic, Space Adventures, are both offering this starting soon.  An order of magnitude cheaper than 1 or 2, and 10 minutes in space instead of 10 days, but it still counts.
4. A job in the Space Technology industry.  Currently, commercial space is undergoing a massive transformation thanks to companies like Virgin Galactic, SpaceX, and others.  A job with one of these companies is extremely difficult to get due to my Canadian Citizenship, but I would find a chance to participate in this revolution extremely fulfilling, and I think I would count it as a success.

To keep things moving along, I'll also be posting my views on space exploration in general.  I've been following space travel like a lovesick puppy since Columbia first launched in 1980, and I've formed a few opinions on the way.  Hopefully, posting these will encourage you to read and share.

Pics of the Antique Royal Creamer Jug as soon as I have them, and I plan to add a couple of other trading items as well, along a more space-oriented line.

And Off We Go

A few years ago, I turned 30.  With the decade, came the usual stocktaking of my life.  In general, I was pretty happy:  decent job, good family, good friends.  But I couldn't help noticing that I had made no progress towards my childhood goal of going to space.

So, I made a very determined effort to transition towards a space-technology job.  I applied to every space agency that would have me as a Canadian citizen.  I applied for jobs with space technology companies large and small.  At the end of two years of trying despite a high-tech degree and years of experience developing code and managing projects, I came up empty.  I faced the fact that I was not going to be a professional astronaut.

But, recent events have given me hope.  It is now no longer necessary to be a professional astronaut to go into space.  You can buy a ticket to space, to the International Space Station, and even around the Moon!

The moon vacation is a minor sum of $150 million US, which also poses a problem.  But a less insurmountable one.  The internet has proven its ability to turn nothing into something.  To turn a red paperclip into a house.  To keep alive dreams long since swept into the dustbin of practical and economic sense.

So, I am appealing to the entire generation of people who thought we'd be in space by now.  The generation of people who watch Star Trek reruns in the dead of night, who mourn the loss of the dream that was the space shuttle, who look up at the stars with a wistful sigh and dream of the adventure to be had there.

Over the next days and weeks, I will be putting items up to trade.  The idea is to trade these items for other bigger, better items, working my way up to the final goal:  a round trip ticket around the Moon!