The NASA astronaut crew that manned the SpaceX Dragon capsule returned to Earth today after a two-month mission. I wrote this piece shortly after it launched (May 30th). That was before I started this whatever-this-is, so I didn't have a decent place to put it. I still like it, though, and it still applies (even if Elon Musk is somehow even more of an insufferable prick two months later). So here goes!:
My family and I watched the space shuttle launch Saturday. We tried watching it Wednesday, but the launch was scrapped because of weather. So we all sat down together Saturday afternoon and watched some of the scientists talk about the shuttle during the pre-launch warmup, and then we did the countdown along with NASA, and then the rocket blasted off and we all had one of those quiet, collective “wow” moments.
It’s been a while since any of us have seen this kind of thing. Before the SpaceX Dragon capsule launched Saturday, it had been nine years since a manned American space shuttle took off from Cape Canaveral, Florida. When space shuttle Atlantis launched on July 8, 2011, a lot more than the rocket was up in the air.
There were several valid reasons for this. Space shuttles require a ton of maintenance (both before and after missions), and NASA was bleeding money in the early 21st century. But the main reason the space shuttle program was shelved is because NASA didn’t have a clear vision of where it wanted to take the space program as a whole. The thought of sending men and women into space seemed outdated and didn’t have the same public allure, and the resulting ambivalence led to a lack of public attention and support. It’s hard to justify spending millions of public dollars on a program that has no clear vision and no focused directive.
Still, the shuttle program’s wind-down seemed like a shame to me. I liked (and still like) President Obama a lot and I agreed with most of his policies while he was in office, but I thought this decision was a mistake. The program’s de-escalation had been initiated by President George W. Bush, but Obama oversaw its closure. And at the time, it felt like giving up.
If there was a case to be made that our planet was a mess, and that we needed to use our resources to get our shit together here on Earth before fixing our eyes on space exploration, then I would have understood it better. That’s a compelling reason for de-prioritizing space missions close to Earth. But nobody was really making that case at the time. Obama said something about refocusing our attention on deep-space exploration, but even that sounded pretty vague. It seemed like the space program just kind of sputtered out and faded away. For a kid who grew up with Star Trek, Star Wars, and Aliens (and The Black Hole, even if that one was weird as hell), I found the whole thing to be confusing and deflating.
In the years since 2011, NASA has had to purchase a spot for its astronauts on board the Russian Soyuz shuttle (which launched from Kazakhstan, of all places). It was strange to cede that sort of prominence to the country America had actually beaten in the Cold War space race to send men to the moon. But when Obama reframed NASA’s mission, he also shifted its economic viability (for the better). When several private investors began expressing interest in returning Americans to space on privately owned and manufactured shuttles, NASA put out several bids and eventually partnered with Elon Musk’s SpaceX to create the Dragon capsule that launched yesterday. The taxpayer burden for something that no longer had a clear social benefit was relieved by partnering with a private company, and that’s probably the way the space program should work.
I don’t particularly like Musk’s eccentricities or public persona, and I do think it’s strange timing to launch a manned shuttle into space when we’re in the middle of a pandemic, a recession, and a time of civil unrest. But I’d be lying if I said I’m not glad the space shuttle program is back. I really, truly am.
And maybe this was actually the perfect time to launch it. Watching the shuttle blast off from Cape Canaveral reminded me of what the space shuttle program has always represented, and it offered a profound contrast to the strange moment we find ourselves in. The space shuttle is a triumph of science and engineering at a time when too many people doubt and resist everything from vaccines to climate science. It’s a marvel of human ambition and ingenuity at a time when too many of us seem to be thinking incredibly small. It’s a testament to willpower and imagination at a time when we seem to be mired in backward-looking stagnation. It’s a sleek, massive machine that represents real progress and advancement at a time when we’re all stuck in our phones.
It was surreal to watch it again the other day. The rocket’s giant engines lit up bright orange, plumes of exhaust blew across the launch area, the launch tower and umbilicals fell away, and the rocket lifted off and gained speed in a way that shouldn’t be physically possible. It stayed upright and lifted in a straight line into the sky, with two humans at the top manning it. The first engine fell away as the rocket left the atmosphere, and a boat caught it at sea! (That shouldn’t be possible, either.) After orbiting Earth for a day, astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley docked at the International Space Station yesterday. And that’s pretty amazing, too.
My oldest son was too young to remember when the last shuttle was launched in Florida, and my youngest son had never seen an American shuttle lift off before Saturday. There was something hopeful and meaningful about sharing it with them—especially when so much has gone wrong this year on so many levels. I don’t know if NASA’s mission is any clearer than it was in 2011, but I’m glad we’re back in the game again.
When I’ve walked outside the last couple days, I’ve found myself looking up into the bright clear blue sky and just kind of staring for a bit, thinking about what’s happening up there. The gravity down here has felt too heavy lately. It’s nice to think about life free from the frustrations and limitations of this planet for a little while. It’s not like I needed a reason or an excuse to do that, but it’s always nice when something triggers that sense of wonder again. I hope my kids feel some of it, too.
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