Get It Together, NASA

Today is the fortieth anniversary of the launch of Apollo 11, the most famous space mission in history, but at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the mood is anything but jubilant.

Nor should it be.

While the MSM pays homage to the astronaut heroes of the past, the nameless space travelers of today are checking the underbelly of their spacecraft in an effort to determine … again … if they’ll be able to come home safely.

During its launch yesterday, the Space Shuttle Endeavor was struck at least three times by foam from its external fuel tank. It’s the same basic problem that ended up destroying the Space Shuttle Columbia six years ago. On that flight, debris punched a hole in the orbiter’s left wing, causing it to break apart during re-entry – killing all seven astronauts on board.

NASA has had to play a game of chicken with falling external tank debris during every launch, relying on photographs of the damage, in-flight repairs and judgment calls on the ground to clear spacecraft for reentry.

Frankly, that’s a bit too inexact a science for our tastes.

The Space Shuttle fleet is being retired next year, but to borrow an interrogative from Axl Rose, “where do we go now?”

Apollo 11 placing a man on the moon was the high-water mark of America’s space program, a Cold War triumph that rallied a nation back when the world made sense and new discoveries awaited us.

Today’s achievements – i.e. the “first time that 13 people have been in space at the same time” – pale by comparison. And achieving them is always a helluva lot more expensive than it should be.

NASA represents a ridiculously large taxpayer investment, and if that investment is to continue then there needs to be either practical applications that justify the expenses or a vision for future exploration consistent with their size and scope.

Ideally, we’d have both.

We’re sick of this agency drifting aimlessly. Oh, and we’re ready to be inspired again.

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