Today is the day this month’s header is explained because I remember the event pretty clearly…it’s when NASA demonstrated their new space shuttle’s capability to glide in for a landing.
What really sucked (and would suck) was how long America’s space program had been stagnating. After the US landed on the Moon first and then again another five times, all the enthusiasm to fund NASA fizzled. Firstly, the urgency to get to the Moon had always had opposition given the costs; even on July 20, 1969, a sizable number of citizens continued to complain; which is their right. I would only partially agree though. The US spends obscene amounts on “defense” and spying ever since the end of WWII. The Pentagon is the true culprit for domestic woes, not space exploration. Secondly, Tricky Dick couldn’t wait to defund any program initiated by the man who beat him fairly to be POTUS in 1960. He probably couldn’t stop the shuttle, it was already in motion as Skylab wound down. Lastly, Carter wasn’t a fan neither. I’m confident he was a huge reason why Columbia failed to make the first launch until St. Reagan took over in 1981. It didn’t improve much as the B-Movie actor wanted emphasize the shuttle fleet’s military applications.
Anyway, back to this odd day.
My brother and I were bunking at Grandma’s house while our parents took a separate vacation in Canada. Then Grandma’s daily routine of game shows on TV were interrupted for a live news event, NASA testing the space shuttle’s glide ability. Being nine, I figured it was going to fall off the 747 and plummet to the ground like a rock; learning about air pressure and actual flight was some years away. I think Grandpa shared my skepticism. To celebrate, the cast from Star Trek were present thanks to a write-in campaign to change the shuttle’s name from Columbia to Enterprise.
Obviously, it was successful. The engineers aren’t stupid and NASA is more cautious than the Pentagon or today’s DotCom douchebag billionaires with their “destroy everything quickly” mentality. Enterprise didn’t run the risk of anything horrible given its empty fuel tanks. The doohickey NASA attached to cover up the engines helped. I felt it was cheating a little; all of the future shuttles which followed had the area exposed.
Now to catch the Season Three Finale of For All Mankind. An alternate universe where America didn’t give up despite landing on the Moon second and by the mid-Nineties, the US, the USSR (still around) and a private company made it to Mars. Today, it’s a herculean task just to get two or three people to the International Space Station, soon to be obsolete. Ronald D. Moore’s imaginary world sadly has two things in common with ours: domestic terrorists awash in conspiracy bullshit out to stop progress; and whiney, low-educated morons bitchin’ about cleaner energy (fusion) taking away their earth-destroy, black-lung making jerbs all due to their laziness to learn useful skills. The US government could do more yet they won’t, both political parties remain identical.