Space, the Final Frontier
or the final systems check
by Raymond M. Coulombe

By the time this went to press, the shuttle Discovery crew was still at the space station. I hope the crew made it back in good shape.

NASA has had time to look over the launch tapes, the underside of the shuttle has been inspected, and the fleet has been grounded. Now I don't know how that makes you feel, but I'd be a bit concerned if I was a couple hundred miles up in the air and my way home was "grounded." Yep, unfit to fly. It's like driving in your car and hearing on the radio that your car's exact make and model has been recalled for safety reasons. It's like that... only multiplied by about a thousand.

Also in the news, Richard Branson and Burt Rutan are now in the business of building space ships. Following the success of SpaceShipOne, the ship that won the X prize, they are working on the 9 person SpaceShipTwo. This new joy buggy is designed for thrill seekers who want an A-list thrill. The "right stuff" will be the price of a ticket.

Okay, quick quiz question: which spaceship do you think I'd like to ride in, the NASA fall apart blow up machine built by politicians, government contractors, and bureaucrats, or the design that won a big monetary prize? Times up! If you said NASA, you weren't paying attention.

I can't but help feel a certain sadness when I see what NASA turned into. Today's NASA is not the same organization that went to the moon. To be fair, they still do a lot of things well. The current Mars rovers exceeded all expectations. Unmanned missions to the outer planets have been exciting and good science has been accomplished. They even smashed a probe into a comet; how cool is that? Maybe the shuttle is a lemon well past its time and congress hasn't allowed them to upgrade to a newer ride. Hey, I drove a Dodge Omni well past its time, so I'm not one to throw stones.

Richard and Burt, however, are so good, they could be Science Fiction. Who wouldn't want to be Richard Branson? He jets around the world, hangs with the cool people and owns his own friggin tropical island. He could be a Heinlein creation. Burt Rutan is like some kind of genius out of a Ben Bova novel, beating the big boys with creations out of his own private skunk works. These guys make a great team.

The shuttle was supposed to be a "space truck" that would make the upper reaches accessible to the average Schmuck. That idea certainly didn't last. As a kid growing up, I had hoped NASA would make the high frontier open to guys like me. Now it looks like Richard and Burt's giant joy ride machine will be the way. Go figure.

The most ironic thing about space? NASA's fleet is grounded, SpaceShipTwo is still in the future, but the Russians are still flying. Yes, the only craft currently space worthy is a tin can that sits on top of an exploding totem pole designed back in dark days of the Soviet Empire. This from a country that can't make a car that anyone in a civilized country would want to own.

If I was working for NASA, I'd be pretty embarrassed. If I was a young clever engineer with an interest in space, I'd see if Rutan was hiring.

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