Ace of Spades HQ

February 24, 2011

Last One
— Dave in Texas

rdbrewer noted it already, and STS-133 Discovery made it's successful launch today.

Well and good. But bittersweet, at least for me.

I'm the old man around here, but I also have ties to NASA that go back to my childhood.
My dad was a communications engineer, who worked on the Gemini and Apollo programs. I was a tow-headed kid who watched a Mercury shot from my back yard in '63, a couple of miles south from Cape Canaveral.

Later we moved to Huntsville Alabama, and dad joined up with Werner Von Braun's "Brown Engineering". He was in the thick of those heady days and I was just a kid pushing the tabs A and B into those paper models you could get from Texaco with a fillup. I met astronauts, real men who went into space. Heroes to me. I was in awe.

Those were the days. I still remember being allowed to stay up late when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon, in July of 1969. A month later we moved to Texas, and all that closeness faded away. Just like the space program began to fade away. It was all so amazing, at one time.

I can't help but feel sad tonight, even at this successful launch, and Godspeed Discovery. It just feels like that window of wonder closed as I got older.

Probably just me. Probably the years. I still want my flying cars too.

Godspeed Discovery.

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 05:28 PM | Comments (40)
Post contains 247 words, total size 1 kb.

1 I'm the old man around here, but I also have ties to NASA that go back to my childhood

"Old Man"? My goodness, there was no NASA in my childhood. Guess who's "old"?

Posted by: Roger at February 24, 2011 05:36 PM (tAwhy)

2 The shuttle was a big fucking mistake.Started NASA down the path to irrelevance.

Posted by: steevy at February 24, 2011 05:37 PM (09ql5)

Lovely post Dave. It's all still a wonder to me.

Posted by: kevlarchick at February 24, 2011 05:45 PM (J1U5w)

4 Huntsvegas baby, yeah! I grew up in Auburn. I still remember buying dehydrated ice cream (Neapolitan) from the Huntsville Space Center during a 3rd grade field trip. And one of those globes with the black and white vanes inside. (That doesn't work from sunlight, I found out recently.)

Posted by: FUBAR at February 24, 2011 05:49 PM (McG46)

5 Emotionally, it's amazing a beautiful and symbolic and sad.

Intellectually, it's a complete waste and good riddance.

We could have had a space program, instead we got a shuttle. Huge, heavy, wasteful, expensive, sucked the air out of everything else.

Posted by: Merovign, Bond Villain at February 24, 2011 05:50 PM (bxiXv)

6 I was born in Auburn, AL. Dad is a graduate. He's still kickin too, he'll be 80 in June.

Posted by: Dave in Texas at February 24, 2011 05:51 PM (Wh0W+)

7 The shuttle was a big fucking mistake.Started NASA down the path to irrelevance.

Posted by: steevy at February 24, 2011 09:37 PM (09ql5)

You and Dave show a disturbing nostalgia for big-government solutions. Like NASA. Yeah, me too.

But the Shuttle was the result of a conscious decision to scale back the space program and/or restrict manned flights to LEO. And it's done great things. For a bus.

Posted by: FUBAR at February 24, 2011 05:54 PM (McG46)

8 5 Yup.

Posted by: steevy at February 24, 2011 05:54 PM (09ql5)

9 I was born in Auburn, AL. Dad is a graduate. He's still kickin too, he'll be 80 in June.

Posted by: Dave in Texas at February 24, 2011 09:51 PM (Wh0W+)

Give your dad a War Eagle, son! And have one for yourself.

Posted by: FUBAR at February 24, 2011 05:56 PM (McG46)

10 7 I did/do think the exploration of space should be spearheaded by government.Exploitation could come from the private sector.The shuttle was supposed to be a stepping stone to Mars,instead it was ,as you say,nothing but a bus.

Posted by: steevy at February 24, 2011 05:58 PM (09ql5)

11 Didn't see any updates, but I guess there was a chance of there being another insulation strike.

Posted by: Douglas at February 24, 2011 05:59 PM (YKOnu)

12 We should throw money at NASA and the shuttle program--or a new shuttle program. I'm fine with the last one, though.

Like the Hubble Telescope, it's something tangible we can point at and be proud of. We can see the results. Almost all other government spending has us looking down, around the muck--in a nearsighted way. This one carries our dreams with it and has us looking up.

Posted by: rdbrewer at February 24, 2011 06:01 PM (NG1bi)

OK...so on the celeb name change thing , who are

39. Jennifer Mary Batula

54. Alicia Cook

61. Lea Michelle Safarti

and

66. Katherine Elizabeth Hudson?

Posted by: beedubya at February 24, 2011 06:02 PM (AnTyA)

14 I did/do think the exploration of space should be spearheaded by government.Exploitation could come from the private sector.The shuttle was supposed to be a stepping stone to Mars,instead it was ,as you say,nothing but a bus.

Posted by: steevy at February 24, 2011 09:58 PM (09ql5)

I've felt the same way, but I wonder if it's because that's the way it's always been. Also, we've explored space. Haven't we? We know the exact conditions we'd encounter, the exact requirements, for any realistic trip. To Mars, for example.

The problem is that it isn't profitable. And it won't be for a long time. So if it's unprofitable and you think it's vital, you want the gummint to do it.

I agree, I just wish it weren't so.

Posted by: FUBAR at February 24, 2011 06:05 PM (McG46)

15 My post on 12? I thought the exact same thing when I was a kid and Democrats began cutting back space funding. That line about looking down into the muck? I was 13 or so.

Posted by: rdbrewer at February 24, 2011 06:06 PM (NG1bi)

16 We should have kept the Saturn V booster. Jeezus.

And they could have kept Skylab up with a little push. Imagine being cramped in that IST, yet able to go across some kind of docking mechanism and crawl into Skylab and run around, stretch your legs. That thing was, what, 30 feet wide?

Hell, you could invent new sports in there. All you'd have to do is patch it up occasionally.

Posted by: rdbrewer at February 24, 2011 06:10 PM (NG1bi)

17 Rechristen it: "The Skylab Gym & Racquet Club."

Posted by: rdbrewer at February 24, 2011 06:13 PM (NG1bi)

18 My father in law was a naval pilot on the Essex and was in charge of the Apollo 7 capsule recovery. We just unearthed all his naval stuff when we moved him a a couple of years back. Plenty of unique photos, original orders, charts etc of the recovery itself. Some pretty cool stuff.

Posted by: himoverthere at February 24, 2011 06:14 PM (154uQ)

19 My father in law was a naval pilot on the Essex and was in charge of the Apollo 7 capsule recovery. We just unearthed all his naval stuff when we moved him a a couple of years back. Plenty of unique photos, original orders, charts etc of the recovery itself. Some pretty cool stuff.

Posted by: himoverthere at February 24, 2011 10:14 PM (154uQ)

Nice.

Posted by: FUBAR at February 24, 2011 06:17 PM (McG46)

20
The things we can do.

Posted by: VADM (Red) Cuthbert Collingwood RN at February 24, 2011 06:17 PM (ZTn9N)

21 Skylab was 84' x 22'. Biggest satellite we've ever put up, I think. (On a single mission.)

Posted by: rdbrewer at February 24, 2011 06:17 PM (NG1bi)

22 Go SpaceX!

Posted by: Unifried at February 24, 2011 06:25 PM (bsMHH)

23 <i> This one carries our dreams with it and has us looking up.</i>

That's actually part of the problem. We are looking for a new shiny rather than something consistent, sustainable as well as shiny. In the next 3 years,there will be 3 private operators in space, 3 (likely more) in suborbital. Just because those endeavors aren't bigger, they are considered regressive, when the goal is to generate a volume of space activity that is promoting a level of research and investment that really hasn't been seen, other than the development of bigger shinier and more expensive things.

SpaceX is already slated (with no timeline) for making the first commercial propelled lunar research contract. XCor, just yesterday lined up contracts with suborbital research firms. Bigelow, once atlas and delta and spaceX have met their contractual obligations with NASA, is looking to operate their inflatables.

There is a whole hell of a lot going on with space transportation and maintenance than runing a 40 year old base design up on a gigantic candle.

There is a sentimentality for the shuttle, but it's still almost 40 years old before all of the mission creep.

There is a lot more going on with space than we know, and I'm just a minor fanboy, there are people who know a crapton more, (obviously) Check Hoff, Goff and Simberg for some of the real stuff that is happening in newspace.

Posted by: Douglas at February 24, 2011 06:29 PM (YKOnu)

24 I took my kids last spring break to Florida to Cape Canaveral. It was really sad- all the people there were losing their jobs. The place is amazing- the building where they stored the items from all over the world that our space shuttles were flying to the space station for example. I wonder if they will just close the whole place down now. If you haven't seen it go. The huge machine they pull the shuttle into place with- the giant buildings where they store the shuttles. My teens who intended to be bored were riveted.

Posted by: timwi at February 24, 2011 06:29 PM (Sxt4Z)

25 Well, the problem we seem to face is that the folks with the resources and hardware to make this all happen are defense contractors- which are glorified government employees (and I say that with my wife having worked for Lockheed and now the NWS). There are some genuine national interests that would be well-served by having a military presence in space, as well as a thriving private sector out there. But who's got the booster to do it with?

Posted by: tmi3rd at February 24, 2011 06:30 PM (WRtsc)

26 The end of the shuttle program wouldn't be sad if our president had not have nixed it's replacement, the Constellation Program.

Posted by: Serious Cat at February 24, 2011 06:31 PM (IxbiS)

27 SpaceX and ULA TMI3rd.

And the Constellation was a waist of time and money serious, a solid state pedestal for launching PEOPLE?! Just a bad idea, and it's one launch had recontact during a suborbital test. Meanwhile spaceX had two flawless (or near enough) launches, including instrumentation, and maneuvering, in less than a year.

The investment in that one test of constellation (I forget what the name of the actual candle is) ran about 500 million. SpaceX made 2 successfully for less than 300 mil.

Posted by: Douglas at February 24, 2011 06:36 PM (YKOnu)

28 Wernher von Braun could really cook.

Posted by: rdbrewer at February 24, 2011 06:47 PM (NG1bi)

29 Very beautiful Rd, but that is the past not the future. Same with the shuttle. Beautiful, but it's the past.

Posted by: Douglas at February 24, 2011 06:51 PM (YKOnu)

30 This is Wolf Blitzer at CNN News Breaking News Headline: First Black President Fucks Up, Economy goes down the toilet !!!!!!

Posted by: Jammie Glandon at February 24, 2011 07:03 PM (zVOB7)

31 As a kid, my mom let me stay home from school to watch the Gemini and Apollo launches in the middle of the day.

The end of NASA manned space flight is the end of an era.

It is the passing of an age where America reached for the sky.

Now, we beat up people who get between us and our government checks.

I think we've lost the plot, somewhere along the line . . .

Maybe SpaceX and Rutan can keep the flame burning. I hope so. But this is one more demonstration that government isn't the answer--government isn't the future.

Posted by: filbert at February 24, 2011 07:09 PM (smvTK)

32 Apollo 11 was on my birthday. I have always had a fondness for the grand adventure that is space. Maybe we've gotten too accustomed to wealth and comfort to need a frontier. Maybe some other culture will arise with fire in their belly, and take man to the stars. We could've gotten started. Instead, we decided to subsidize po' ways and then wondered how we'd gotten so many po' (and not so po') folks demanding our money as some sort of birthright.

Posted by: Cobalt Shiva at February 24, 2011 07:33 PM (8urJM)

33 I think government has a place. COTS is perfectly reasonable. Maintaining the ISS is not a bad thing, It promotes cooperation, it expands the understanding of space science, and that can be continued, with a reduced fixed price delivery agreement, that has already been met by SpacX and ULA for achieving Milestones.

Other space science projects are looking for a way to increase their ability to do space science. That's why Bigelow and ULA have agreemens with foreign governments who can't achieve standing research without routing through NASA.

It's why high turnaround research launches for suborbital are already being purches through Xcor (Xcor also has a gateway for rapid transportation rather than just research and "space tourism")

It's why Masten is busting their butts to design VTVL craft to allow repeat and rapid service to the lunar surface.

It's why there are working projects on L-1 Depots, and service tuggs, and L-2Comunications for Solar System scale research projects, and maybe human exploration.

Already Rand wrote an article about "space conestogas" consisting of 2 or more biggelow inflatables, assembled with a power plant and fuel (the particular fuel is always negotiable as is the powerplant of course) to serve as the "simple" covered wagons that carry Humans to Mars and beyond. Which would require a hybrid of 3 of the technologies that already exist.

Innovators who aren't locked into the strict governmental requirements are always innovating, and pressing those innovators to innovate more to meet the needs of the market that is growing.j

Meanwhile Nasa wants a big solid fuel candle.

Posted by: Douglas at February 24, 2011 07:49 PM (YKOnu)

34 Godspeed Discovery. Indeed.

Posted by: Discovery Fan at February 24, 2011 08:22 PM (AVHov)

35 I saw it launch. I was stuck at the Orlando airport because my plane was delayed for 3 hours and you could see it take off from the terminal. Crossed something off my bucket list.

Posted by: Kasper Hauser at February 24, 2011 08:57 PM (NYW94)

36 Still missed a night launch Kasper.

Posted by: Douglas at February 24, 2011 09:02 PM (YKOnu)

37 36 I've seen two night launches from my home in Pennsylvania. The shuttle passed by low above the southern horizon about eight minutes after launch. In both cases I saw MECO followed by the tank separation. I made a relevant comment here earlier tonight. http://itsaboutliberty.com/index.php/topic,171.msg1176.html#msg1176

Posted by: rickl at February 24, 2011 09:45 PM (hZFhS)

38 Also see my links to NASASpaceflight.com. That's an incredible space-related blog that I only found a couple of months ago.

Posted by: rickl at February 24, 2011 09:48 PM (hZFhS)

39 Didn't see any updates, but I guess there was a chance of there being another insulation strike.

Posted by: alisav at February 25, 2011 05:56 AM (KCDI/)

40 In 1963 I was flying over the Black Sea monitoring Russian Missiles. Yesterday my windows started rattling so I turned and watched Discovery on her last voyage. It's been quite a ride.

Posted by: Roy Lofquist at February 25, 2011 08:35 AM (CDsh0)

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