doctorjeff's blog

Photo caption: Buzz Aldrin on the Moon. Photo by Neil Armstrong.

This was originally posted at Blog on the Universe on July 16, 2009, 4 days in advance of the 40th anniversary of the first Moon landing. I wanted to share it with the Space Tweeps in honor of their recent party at the Cape.

Photo Caption: Stop what you are doing for a moment, and just imagine the stark contrast between the surface of this world and the vacuum of space. Be thankful for the veil of atmosphere above you, slender as it may be.

NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft took this image of Mercury’s northern horizon on September 29, 2009, during its third and final flyby of Mercury, as we were covering the event live via Twitter from Mission Control in Columbia, Maryland. This image captures portions of Mercury we had never before seen—it represents history in the making.

Photo caption: Earth as seen by the MESSENGER spacecraft as it flew by our planet on August 2 2005.

Don't let your seemingly vast experience as an inhabitant of this world fool you. It's easy to be lulled into a false sense of self-importance. Let me explain.

You likely live in a house or apartment on a street, and in a community that's part of some town, maybe even some major urban area. Your community is likely part of a much larger state or province of one of the nations of Earth--which are themselves nothing more than imaginary constructs of human society. Your country is also likely assigned to one of the continental masses whose sum total of land area is just 29% of the planet's surface. You are small and the Earth is seemingly vast, as if we humans to Earth are just so many micro-organisms scurrying about each day (each rotation of Earth), and following rules of social engagement that often defy logic.

Space Tweeps here are some reflections on the Space Shuttle:

what lesson -- that fly boys and the aerospace industry hijacked the space program by insisting "pilots" had to "fly" into space?

the space shuttle has to be one of the MOST wasteful and deadly boondoggles ever foisted off on taxpayers in the name of science (nuclear power is worse still -- but hey, we need reactors to create weapons of mass destruction, so killing people is actually part of the plan there).

shuttles should have never been built and certainly deserve to be forgotten (unlike the lessons of greed and hubris that created them -- those we NEVER seem to learn.

I cross-posted my earlier essay on Endeavour's Launch and the End of an Era at Huffington Post. It went up in the Technology Section yesterday. The comment above was posted at HuffPost by Rusty Rebar. 

This is cross-posted at Blog on the Universe and Huffington Post

A different kind of countdown has begun. It is now 2010. Before the next New Year's celebration, the U.S. Space Shuttle program will be just a memory. Those that took pride in following along as this remarkable vehicle broke the surly bonds of Earth will surely feel they've lost a friend, and the pain of a very personal page turned forever will linger for quite some time. Those of you that follow news of the day as daily ritual, every so often hearing about a Space Shuttle blasting off or returning to Earth, will no longer experience that quick smile acknowledging pride in American leadership and technological prowess--at least not when it comes to human spaceflight. (Are there really that many areas left where America excels?)

This essay was originally posted at Blog on the Universe on November 27, 2009

It was also published as a featured post in the Technology Section of the Huffington Post on December 8, 2009

I'm honored to be able to post it on the STS Blog as well.

-Jeff

A little over a week ago I watched space shuttle Atlantis land at Kennedy. I had lots and lots of mixed emotions. The shuttle is just a remarkable technological achievement, and watching it land can be a pretty emotional experience.