Lexington, KY - For space buffs, the past few months have been touched with excitement and poignancy, as the last three NASA space shuttles safely completed their final takeoffs and re-entries, beginning with Discovery in February and ending July 21 with Atlantis finishing the last American space shuttle mission, STS-135. Endeavor's final mission was in May.
I grew up with the American space shuttle program, literally - its first mission, a two-day orbital spaceflight aboard the spacecraft Columbia, was launched a month and a day after I was born. So I had a keen interest as I watched each of these last three liftoffs online, in real-time. And as each of the countdowns to launch commenced, I was reminded, with the pangs of remorse, once again of the same thing: I never got to go to Space Camp.
Of course, this is no big deal, and certainly isn't any sort of taint on an otherwise idyllic childhood. Millions of kids never get to go to Space Camp. But here's the rub: I really wanted to go to Space Camp, and it's a minor detail I have never let my family forget -
especially given that my younger brother is, in fact, a graduate crew member of Space Camp.
Located in Huntsville, Ala., my mom always refutes my perceived slight by telling me the camp was just too far away, and she wouldn't have been able to bear me being by myself so far from home (my brother went with a school group). This is a sufficient and endearing reason, but sometimes I wonder if there was a more pressing, underlying motive. With the failed Challenger mission early in 1986, which resulted in the loss of the entire seven-member crew - including schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe, the first civilian aboard a space shuttle -
I'm sure many mothers were trying to subtly steer young children's eyes from the cosmos at that time. My mom has since apologized, on multiple occasions, and has even offered to pay my way to attend the new Adult Space Academy, which is held at the same facilities.
I was too young to be able to remember the Challenger tragedy, but I do remember when the shuttle Columbia and her crew were lost upon re-entry back in January 2003 - I was watching a UK basketball game when the emergency report cut in.
With the news that NASA is no longer going to pursue its own means of transporting astronauts to space, evidenced by the cancellation of the Constellation program, which would have developed new reusable spacecraft and booster vehicles (Orion and Ares I) -
opting instead to rely on other countries' programs to hitch a ride - I think our country is doing a terrible disservice to the legacy of these fallen explorers of Challenger and Columbia. Manned space exploration should be a national priority and obligation, right up there with safe bridges and good schools, and not something we rely on the private sector to continue to blaze.
At least private space companies, like Virgin Galactic, which could soon be offering commercial space tourism (you can book a trip now; a voyage only costs $200,000, with a $20,000 deposit), are potential places of employment for now unemployed American astronauts.
Maybe that's what my mother was really worried about when I wasn't able to go to Space Camp: job security.
But then, I don't know why she would let me go into journalism.