President's Message

It can sometimes be difficult to "wave the flag" for space exploration and development, particularly after people lose their lives in the endeavor. There are the inevitable second thoughts and uncertainties, the questioning of "Is this worth it?" The situation isn't helped by the media's tendency to give substantial coverage to the naysayers and those who advocate devoting all of our resources to earthly problems and concerns.

Those of us in the pro-space camp find ourselves having to respond to these arguments, both the reasoned and the irrational ones, with a clear, sensible, and informed voice. But it can be difficult.

We tell the media and the public about the human drive to explore, the need to find and develop new resources and living space. We point to the knowledge gained about the universe around us and about our own planet, to the technological spin-offs. We give them these and numerous other excellent reasons.

But sometimes I think that we're missing the real point. We get so close to the "space advocacy problem" that we lose track of why we need to do this. And we need an occasional reminder. I got such a reminder during a recent trip to Florida.

I was conducting some personal business on the East Coast and decided to take a side trip to the Kennedy Space Center. I hadn't been there since the John Glenn shuttle launch a few years ago and was curious to see how different things were when there wasn't a media circus.

With shuttle flights on hiatus following the Columbia accident, my friend and I expected things to be fairly quiet at the KSC Visitors' Center. Instead, we found hundreds of parents and children from all over the world learning about the universe around them. Large crowds were going on tours of the Space Center complex, watching the Shuttle and Space Station IMAX films, "oohing and ahhing" the robotics demonstrations and rocket exhibits. Even after the loss of Columbia, we found a long line filing into the full-size Shuttle exhibit. A good sized crowd listened to French cosmonaut/astronaut Jean-Loup Chretien describe his experiences aboard the Salyut 7, Mir, and Alpha Space Stations. The excitement was palpable.

After we left KSC, we headed for Titusville. A new Delta IV rocket was scheduled to launch a Defense Department satellite within the hour and we wanted to find a good spot to view the liftoff. We drove for awhile and chanced upon Riverfront Park near the waterside. There was a clear view of the launch site across the water, with several pads visible in the distance. We could easily make out the distinct outline of the giant Vehicle Assembly Building, while blue heron flew within a few feet of us.

There were already a number of vehicles in the parking area and we found a large cluster of people waiting by the waterside in camping chairs. Several had cameras set up and a few held ham radio receivers to monitor the launch activity.

Among the crowd was an eight year-old boy there with his grandfather. He listened intently to each step of the countdown, repeating it for anyone who didn't hear. He would catch any piece of information he could get about rockets or launches. A few of the NASA and Air Force retirees there were only too happy to oblige him.

There were a number of delays during the countdown, mostly due to range problems, and you could see the boy's spirits rise and fall with each start or stop of the launch clock. Finally, after we'd waited through several countdown holds, the range announced that the launch window had closed and that the launch was scrubbed. The announcer said that there would be another attempt the following evening. You could see the crowd's spirits sink a little and they began to pack up there things for the night. Then the boy said, "That's okay. We'll be here tomorrow."

It was then that I was reminded of the best reason for advocating space travel. That boy and those like him will be here tomorrow and the next day and the next. The opportunities they have and the lives they lead will depend in good measure on our actions today. It is up to us to give them the chance to do more and see more and understand more than we do ourselves. It is up to us to give them the chance to be greater than we are today. We give them the chance to inherit the stars.

— Steve Bartlett