Good day, dear friends and family,
A little over Fifty-four and one half years ago, Naval Aviator and test pilot, Neil Armstrong, became the first Human Being to set foot on an extraterrestrial body. As Armstrong stepped off of the Eagle and onto the lunar regolith, he declared, "That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind." In spite of this noble and thoroughly documented accomplishment, there were people at the time who decried spending money on America's Space Program as nothing but a game of brinkmanship that the politicians in Washington were playing against the Soviet Union. Even today, in spite of private corporations Intuitive Machines and Space-X sending and successfully landing the unmanned Odysseus Lander on the Moon on 22 Feb 2024, many people condemn the expenditures of both, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and privately funded space exploration programs as a waste of money that would be better spent on social programs. There is actually even a fringe element that has existed since the late 1960s that claims that the Apollo 11 landing never really happened; that it was all faked on a Hollywood sound stage. So let's address the question: has America's...and every other nation's...extraterrestrial explorations been worth the money, time, and lives it has cost?
MONEY and TIME
The earliest known use of primitive rockets was as a means to propel arrows in Eleventh Century China. Over the next 8 centuries, rocketry improved, but continued to be used almost exclusively for weapons, leading to Francis Scott Key's "rocket reds glare" during the War of 1812. Inspired by Nineteenth Century fiction authors such as Jules Verne and H. G. Wells, early Twentieth Century engineers and scientists such as Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, Robert Esnault-Pelterie, Robert Goddard, Yves Le Prieur, Hermann Oberth, Max Valier, and Wernher von Braun began to throw every resource they could into developing manned rockets, but every advance they developed was weaponized by their respective governments. Leading up to World War II, both Germany and the USSR impressed scientists and engineers against their will to work on long range military rockets. Up to, and through, WWII, with the exception of four or five private rocketry societies in America, Britain, and Germany, all research and advances in rocketry were financed through military budgets.
In the final months of the War in Europe, U.S., British, and Soviet military and scientific organizations began competitive efforts to 'liberate' the scientists, engineers, and technology at the German rocket research, development, and manufacturing center in Peenemuende. During this time, von Braun was determined to not end up in Russia, so he and his staff packaged up all their designs, research notes, and blueprints and hid them in the hills outside the research center. When the Allied Forces arrived at Peenemuende, von Braun made certain that American troops took custody of he and his staff. Since they were officially considered members of the enemy force, though non-combatant, they were transported to the Allied Enemy Personnel Exploitation Section detentiom center called, Camp Dustbin. After the surrender of the Third Reich, the Allies vetted the various ‘persons of interest’ detained in Camp Dustbin. A year later, in 1946 AD, President Harry Truman authorized Operation Paperclip and over 1,600 German scientists, engineers, and technicians, along with their families, were quietly accepted into the US as refugees. Meanwhile, the USSR took custody of over 2,200 German scientists, engineers, and technicians, as well as their families, that didn’t make it into Allied protection.
The late 1940s was when the Cold War Space Race between the USA and the USSR began in earnest. While both countries switched the primary focus of their rocketry programs to scientific exploration, they both also continued to look at the possibility of using rockets for the intercontinental delivery of nuclear weapons. Since then, Billions upon Billions of dollars have been spent on the advancement of technology for space exploration, first by America and the Soviets, then later by China, India, the European Space Agency, and Japan.
LIVES
To date, since the start of the Cold War Space Race, thirty lives have been officially lost during either training or active spaceflight missions. These heroes are (in chronological order of their deaths):
Ø Cosmonaut Valentine Bondarenko
Ø Astronaut Theodore Freeman
Ø Astronaut Elliot See
Ø Astronaut Charles Bassett
Ø Astronaut Virgil "Gus" Grissom
Ø Astronaut Ed White
Ø Astronaut Roger B. Chaffee
Ø Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov
Ø Astronaut Clifton C. Williams
Ø Astronaut Michael J. Adams
Ø Astronaut Robert Henry Lawrence, Jr.
Ø Cosmonaut Georgy Dobrovolsky
Ø Cosmonaut Viktor Patsayev
Ø Cosmonaut Vladislav Volkov
Ø Astronaut Gregory Jarvis
Ø Astronaut Christa McAuliffe
Ø Astronaut Ronald McNair
Ø Astronaut Ellison Onizuka
Ø Astronaut Judith Resnik
Ø Astronaut Michael J. Smith
Ø Astronaut Dick Scobee
Ø Cosmonaut Sergei Vozovikov
Ø Astronaut Rick D. Husband
Ø Astronaut William C. McCool
Ø Astronaut Michael P. Anderson
Ø Astronaut David M. Brown
Ø Astronaut Kalpana Chawla
Ø Astronaut Laurel Clark
Ø Astronaut Ilan Ramon
Ø Astronaut Michael Alsbury
There are rumours and legends of unreported deaths in the space programs of the Soviet Union and other nations, but nothing that has been officially reported or confirmed. Also, these do not include deaths among the ground technicians, engineers, and ancillary staff related to the various space programs.
I have been very fortunate in my life to have met and known several NASA Astronauts, including Jim Lovell, Gene Cernan, Eileen Collins, Ellen Ochoa, and Bill McArthur. Every single one with whom I have spoken has said that every astronaut and cosmonaut lost understood the hazards of the job and willingly accepted them. They also said that, if either NASA, the Soviet Kosmicheskaya, or the Russian ROSCOSMOS had ended their respective programs after the loss of these valiant men and women, it would have been an affront to their memories.
THE BENEFITS
So, what has our nation, let alone Humanity, gained from what exploring space has cost. Here's a partial yet nowhere near complete list of the benefits and innovations that have come from NASA and other space programs:
Ø Velcro - while two different people claim to have originally come up with the idea for hook-and-loop fasteners (both stories are almost identical, but occur almost 35 years and over 4,000 miles apart), it was a virtually unknown and unused product until a NASA technician was tasked with combing through Patent records to find a better option than zippers for sealing spacesuits, as well assomething to secure loose objects in the Gemini capsule. He found one item that satisfied both needs. Thanks to NASA, that prevalent ripping sound can now be heard coming from everything from athletic shoes to picture frame mounts;
Ø Nutritional Supplement Beverages - When trying to find a way to feed astronauts in orbit that that takes up as little space and weighs as little as possible, NASA nutritionists and scientists developed compressed food bars, nutritionally-dense food packets, and powdered nutritional beverages that can be mixed into an Astronaut's water ration. The technology that was created by NASA to deliver these things have provided everything from powered supplements to the modern drinks such as Boost and Ensure;
Ø TEMPUR foam - The original 'memory foam' cushioning material, TEMPUR foam was developed as a durable, lightweight G-force cushion for the seats in the Apollo capsules. It turned out it also had natural cooling properties that reduced how hard the spacesuits had to work to keep the Astronauts from overheating;
Ø Portable Cordless Vacuums - Did you know that the technology for the DustBuster was originally developed by Black & Decker for NASA to be used to collect core samples from under the Moon's surface?
Ø Single-crystal Silicon Solar Cells - These solar cells produce 50% more power than conventional cells at a fraction of the size. Thanks to the space program, you no longer have to have enough solar cells to cover half a football field to power your home;
Ø Infrared Ear Thermometers - Originally developed to determine the temperature of distant stars and planets, the technology to detect thermal radiation was miniaturized so that it could be fitted inside an Astronaut's helmet in order for Ground Control to monitor his or her well-being;
Ø LASIK Eye Surgery - originally developed to help space vehicles dock with satellites, the LASIK tracking system was scaled down and is now used worldwide by ophthalmologists;
Ø Realistic Artificial Limbs - By combining NASA's work with remote robotic arms and TEMPUR foam, private industries are creating more realistic, operating artificial limbs that also reduce heat and friction;
Ø Scratch-resistant Lenses - Originally developed to keep lenses, windows, visors, and faceplates from getting scratched in space, almost every pair of eyeglasses now has these;
Ø New Drugs to fight disorders such as Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and simplifying Cancer treatments;
Ø GPS - Most people don't know this, but GPS is the acronym for Global Positioning Satellite. Originally proposed by engineer, futurist, and writer Arthur C. Clarke in 1947 AD, the technology that lets you use a map app to get directions wouldn't exist without the space program;
And many, many more.
In the sixty-three years since Alan Shepard became the first American in space, just the 11 things listed here have saved or improved the lives of tens of millions of people around the world…many, many more than the number of lives that have been lost in the various space programs. Space related advances have positively impacted health and medicine, transportation, consumer convenience and efficiency, public safety, environmental and agricultural protection and production, communications, computer technology…almost every Human endeavor over the last 7+ decades. In fact, if you're reading this on a smart phone, thank NASA. The economic boon from the success of the general consumer offshoots of these advances and inventions have increased the standard of living
for communities in many different nations.
And to those who think that the privately owned companies who have started their own space programs should be spending that money on infrastructure and social programs, guess what? They’re doing both. Every place these companies have offices or facilities, they are feeding the local tax base…the tax bases each local government is supposed to use for those programs.
Until next time...
© 2009, 2024 James P. Rice
