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Today, on July 21st, 2011, at 5:59 EDT, the United States Space Transportation System program, known colloquially as the Space Shuttle, ended with the landing of Atlantis(OV-104). The 30+ year program carried out over 100 missions, invaluable scientific research, and inspired an entire generation, one of which I am part of. The idea of going into space on a ship like the shuttle, or at all, was a favorite dream of mine as a child. To see it end, even with a picture perfect mission like STS-135, is saddening.
But even moreso, this era ends on a sour note for me. I'm a huge space buff, and I love the idea of going into space. With the end of the shuttle program, for the first time in 50 years, the US now entirely lacks the ability to send a person into space, which I consider a regrettable shame. To lose this ability, and more importantly, to stunt the dreams and motivations that the ability inspires, is to me a great tragedy.
In light of this, I got this picture drawn at MFF 2010 of Arrow looking wistfully and reflectively at a shuttle landing. Originally, the final shuttle mission was to occur during the convention, but the mission was delayed and another mission was added. So here we have Arrow reflecting on what's been done...and what remains to be achieved.
For all those who have ever dreamed of going in space, here's hoping we get another chance in the future. It would be a shame if this was the end.
For all those who have inspired us and worked in this quest to explore space (including my grandfather, who was on the design team for the Apollo Environmental Control System), thank you. The world owes you a debt for all your braver and hard work which can never be repaid...but I hope we can try and honor your story.
So...goodbye to the shuttle. A great machine with a great legacy, and hopefully this is only the ending of a chapter, not the story. Rest in peace.
"Whatever the reason you're on Mars, I'm glad you're there, and I wish I was with you." -Carl Sagan
"Wanna go to space." "NOBODY'S GOING TO SPACE, MATE!" -Space Core, Wheatly, Portal 2
Art drawn by
likeshine at MFF 2010.
But even moreso, this era ends on a sour note for me. I'm a huge space buff, and I love the idea of going into space. With the end of the shuttle program, for the first time in 50 years, the US now entirely lacks the ability to send a person into space, which I consider a regrettable shame. To lose this ability, and more importantly, to stunt the dreams and motivations that the ability inspires, is to me a great tragedy.
In light of this, I got this picture drawn at MFF 2010 of Arrow looking wistfully and reflectively at a shuttle landing. Originally, the final shuttle mission was to occur during the convention, but the mission was delayed and another mission was added. So here we have Arrow reflecting on what's been done...and what remains to be achieved.
For all those who have ever dreamed of going in space, here's hoping we get another chance in the future. It would be a shame if this was the end.
For all those who have inspired us and worked in this quest to explore space (including my grandfather, who was on the design team for the Apollo Environmental Control System), thank you. The world owes you a debt for all your braver and hard work which can never be repaid...but I hope we can try and honor your story.
So...goodbye to the shuttle. A great machine with a great legacy, and hopefully this is only the ending of a chapter, not the story. Rest in peace.
"Whatever the reason you're on Mars, I'm glad you're there, and I wish I was with you." -Carl Sagan
"Wanna go to space." "NOBODY'S GOING TO SPACE, MATE!" -Space Core, Wheatly, Portal 2
Art drawn by
likeshine at MFF 2010.
Category Artwork (Traditional) / General Furry Art
Species Avian (Other)
Size 715 x 1046px
File Size 295.4 kB
Listed in Folders
Just watched this live, it was a bit painful to know it was the last time.
Being in the various industries I've been in, and seeing how the US has been generally collapsing, I do believe this is the last time we'll see any kind of American government run space agency, meaning any further space endeavour, will be commercial, cheapened, and far more risky. It's harrowing to think of the implications.
Being in the various industries I've been in, and seeing how the US has been generally collapsing, I do believe this is the last time we'll see any kind of American government run space agency, meaning any further space endeavour, will be commercial, cheapened, and far more risky. It's harrowing to think of the implications.
I've been saddened to see the end of the Space Shuttle. Part of me fears that with the approaching, multiple, and interlinked crises of Peak Oil, Global Warming, and Population Growth, this may actually be the end of human ambition in space in a very real and immediate sense. Another part hopes that the various corporations investing in rocketry will manage to do what the Shuttle conspicuously failed to do, and open up the prospect of cheap spaceflight, and achieve the steps beyond: asteroid mining, space construction, extraplanetary colonies. Let's not forget that the entrepreneurs behind those enterprises may be rich and business-minded now, but they too are driven by childhood memories of the old ambitions of the Space Program, and inspired to take the next step themselves.
Realistically, though, given the extreme expense and exposure to still-largely-unknown environments that such things would require, it's unlikely that private enterprise will take that plunge, unless a government-sponsored program does it first and proves the principle.
I'm of the opinion that the Shuttle program actually hindered space flight, rather than helping it. Although the idea of a cheap, reusable spacecraft was ambitious and daring in the 1970s, it was a big step down from putting men on the Moon, and the 'everyday spaceflight' ethos it promoted managed to make space seem boring to more people than it inspired. This is before getting into the problems of its massive cost overruns and its failure to meet its design goals, too; had the money been spent on (say) preparing a manned mission to Mars, humans would probably have set foot on the Red Planet by now. In NASA, too, the Shuttle took resources away from other areas, and promoted a sense of dull routine that played a key role in the two shuttle disasters. The lack of need to make new spacecraft stopped the active development of new technologies, which the Apollo program did in spectacular terms.
With the Shuttle gone, though, maybe the Private Sector can take up the gauntlet successfully. We shall see.
Fingers crossed for a lunar colony by 2040!
Realistically, though, given the extreme expense and exposure to still-largely-unknown environments that such things would require, it's unlikely that private enterprise will take that plunge, unless a government-sponsored program does it first and proves the principle.
I'm of the opinion that the Shuttle program actually hindered space flight, rather than helping it. Although the idea of a cheap, reusable spacecraft was ambitious and daring in the 1970s, it was a big step down from putting men on the Moon, and the 'everyday spaceflight' ethos it promoted managed to make space seem boring to more people than it inspired. This is before getting into the problems of its massive cost overruns and its failure to meet its design goals, too; had the money been spent on (say) preparing a manned mission to Mars, humans would probably have set foot on the Red Planet by now. In NASA, too, the Shuttle took resources away from other areas, and promoted a sense of dull routine that played a key role in the two shuttle disasters. The lack of need to make new spacecraft stopped the active development of new technologies, which the Apollo program did in spectacular terms.
With the Shuttle gone, though, maybe the Private Sector can take up the gauntlet successfully. We shall see.
Fingers crossed for a lunar colony by 2040!
"... the US now entirely lacks the ability to send a person into space..." -- Well, in so much as with one of our own launch vehicles. The US will still be sending folks to the ISS, albeit with a Russian ticket to get there. And it will be far cheaper that way.
It's sad to see the shuttle get retired in the wake up uncertainty with NASA budgets and similar, however, the shuttle DID NOT turn out to work as it was designed - namely the intention of saving time and money on a reusable launch vehicle rather than Apollo-era one-time-launch vehicles. After the shuttle was instituted and proved to work "okay" (read: marginally acceptable), then NASA had to bleed money for three decades to keep it going, and there really wasn't the ABILITY to innovate once the working (but costly) Shuttle solution was found. At some point this bleeding wound HAD to be cut off, especially with a lack of funding and how bloody much it costs EACH LAUNCH. And so that time has finally come around, and due to aforementioned circumstances, we don't currently have a viable solution to simply take its place. Sad, yes? The End Of The World™, no.
Now is a better time than ever with regard to how many companies are working to commercializing space travel and launch capabilities in the private sector, most of those being in the US. With folks like Space X et al making amazing leaps and bounds at a FRACTION of the cost that NASA had through government spending. In addition they are being able to use the many years this country has worked on rockets to provide solid technical data instead of reinventing the wheel! Things can only turn out better in the long run. It's new ideas that HAVE to be tried when you CAN'T invest tens of billions of dollars. THAT'S innovation and progress, things that are slow to come out of government dinosaurs when funding and initiative are simply not available to drive things forward. People seem to somehow just mentally sweep all of this under the rug when they see The Awesome Spaceship going away, often having this almost pretentious view of the NASA's Shuttle being the single, sole end-all be-all thing that represents Everything Space. How about instead being enthusiastic toward the amount of progress and innovation being made elsewhere, both in this country and abroad?
If you wanted to get in to space personally, then show support and enthusiasm for the private sector companies working to get Space Tourism (silly as it sounds!) to become a viable reality. Unless you were a part of the Air Force and then one of the VERY lucky in NASA, there's very little likelihood you would EVER have gotten on to one of the 135 launches over the past 30 years. Not surprising that all of the casual 'tourist' visits to the ISS have been by way of the Russia.
So chin up! The end of the space shuttle does NOT mean the end of our involvement in space, getting to space, or making space a more commercially viable location over time. Innovation IS happening. Change is good, just not always easy.
It's sad to see the shuttle get retired in the wake up uncertainty with NASA budgets and similar, however, the shuttle DID NOT turn out to work as it was designed - namely the intention of saving time and money on a reusable launch vehicle rather than Apollo-era one-time-launch vehicles. After the shuttle was instituted and proved to work "okay" (read: marginally acceptable), then NASA had to bleed money for three decades to keep it going, and there really wasn't the ABILITY to innovate once the working (but costly) Shuttle solution was found. At some point this bleeding wound HAD to be cut off, especially with a lack of funding and how bloody much it costs EACH LAUNCH. And so that time has finally come around, and due to aforementioned circumstances, we don't currently have a viable solution to simply take its place. Sad, yes? The End Of The World™, no.
Now is a better time than ever with regard to how many companies are working to commercializing space travel and launch capabilities in the private sector, most of those being in the US. With folks like Space X et al making amazing leaps and bounds at a FRACTION of the cost that NASA had through government spending. In addition they are being able to use the many years this country has worked on rockets to provide solid technical data instead of reinventing the wheel! Things can only turn out better in the long run. It's new ideas that HAVE to be tried when you CAN'T invest tens of billions of dollars. THAT'S innovation and progress, things that are slow to come out of government dinosaurs when funding and initiative are simply not available to drive things forward. People seem to somehow just mentally sweep all of this under the rug when they see The Awesome Spaceship going away, often having this almost pretentious view of the NASA's Shuttle being the single, sole end-all be-all thing that represents Everything Space. How about instead being enthusiastic toward the amount of progress and innovation being made elsewhere, both in this country and abroad?
If you wanted to get in to space personally, then show support and enthusiasm for the private sector companies working to get Space Tourism (silly as it sounds!) to become a viable reality. Unless you were a part of the Air Force and then one of the VERY lucky in NASA, there's very little likelihood you would EVER have gotten on to one of the 135 launches over the past 30 years. Not surprising that all of the casual 'tourist' visits to the ISS have been by way of the Russia.
So chin up! The end of the space shuttle does NOT mean the end of our involvement in space, getting to space, or making space a more commercially viable location over time. Innovation IS happening. Change is good, just not always easy.
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