I’m not entirely sure what to say about this story:
“The head of the US space agency, Dr Michael Griffin, overruled warnings that there was a ‘relatively high’ chance the shuttle’s external fuel tank could shed some of its solid foam coating when it launches on 1 July, carrying seven crew including Briton Piers Sellers, an Edinburgh University graduate.
“In 2003, falling foam knocked a hole in Columbia’s wing, causing the craft to break up as it returned to Earth, resulting in the deaths of seven astronauts. Last year, Discovery came within inches of disaster when a chunk rattled loose from the tank and nearly struck the orbiter seconds after lift-off.
“During a weekend meeting at NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre at Cape Canaveral, Florida, “Dr Griffin gave the final nod for next month’s mission, despite what he called an ‘intensive and spirited exchange’ with senior colleagues who recommended a ‘no-go’. ‘We have elected to take the risk,’ he said.
If the mission ends in disaster, NASA’s multi-billion dollar shuttle programme will be scrapped, leaving construction of the International Space Station unfinished and marking the end of an era in human spaceflight.”
Even if we set aside the conspiracy angle (“they want to kill NASA! They’ll sacrifice innocents to do it!”) that was sadly the first place my mind went, there’s still something absolutely disgusting about seeing this kind of…I don’t even know what to call it, going on in the upper echelons of what was, once upon a time, one of the premier science organizations in the world.
I’ve never tried to hide the fact that I am rabidly in favor of space exploration, both manned and unmanned. I have never been swayed by arguments on either the Left or the Right that it’s a waste of money, that it’s best left to private companies (the armies of technicians and scientists required for such work is I fear beyond the scope of all but the most benevolent and wealthy corporation), et cetera ad infinitum. But this just leaves me dead inside. The man running NASA doesn’t care. And if he doesn’t care about human life, I can’t imagine that he cares about the acquisition of knowledge or the advancement of the species. At this moment, NASA is not working for the interest of humankind’s growth, and that leaves me feeling more depressed than all the bad news out of everything could possibly do.
(via Sadly, No!)