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The Daily Dose/February 2, 2010
By Gaylon Kent
The Writer's Shack
Notes from around the Human Experience...
STOP THE PRESSES: We are on record here at the Writer's Shack as favoring manned space exploration. We are of the opinion the Apollo 11 moon landing was mankind's finest hour, a line of demarcation in human history separating everything that came before from everything that came after, sort of like Rock Around the Clock separated everything that came before from everything that came after on Billboard Hot 100.
This Is A Bulletin, Too: We are also of the opinion that we should ashamed of our collective selves that we are into the second decade of the 21st century and we still have not been to Mars, a detail we could have attended to in the 1980's if we really felt like it.
I'm Sure There's A Point Around Here Somewhere: So you might think that we would be weeping and rending garments here at Writer's Shack headquarters over the Obama Administration's decision to end the Constellation moon program.
Ground Zero: You would be wrong. Sure, we supported Constellation - as well as the proposed Mars mission - when it President Bush first announced it in 2003, but NASA is now incapable of managing a kettle of water to a rolling boil much less a manned lunar or Martian landing and the Constellation program was so far behind schedule that even the most optimistic scenario didn't have anyone farting around on the Moon until 2028 at the earliest, ten years later than the original plan.
FunFact: 2028 would be the 120th anniversary of the Chicago Cubs last World Series victory.
Brass Tax: Obama's plan is rather unspecific. It would shift spending priorities from returning to the Moon to encouraging civilian space taxi services. It would focus on new spending on robotic explorations and to developing new launch and space flight technologies. It calls for a "bold new initiative" despite declining to detail exactly what this initiative might be, where it might take us or when we can expect to get there, which is now standard procedure in this country, where politicians routinely take an apple and place it in an orange box and call it an orange even though it is still an apple.
A New Paradigm Moving Forward: Still though, we are pleased to issue Writer's Shack support for this matter, because, if you look closely, it is the first tentative steps to shifting the primary responsibility for space exploration from the government to private enterprise. Obama is not merely ending the Constellation program. He is completely changing the paradigm of how this nation explores space.
Uh, Wait A Minute Here: Or he is attempting to. Congress, as usual, will look at this solely as to how it will affect their reelection and may well kill it.
Looking Back: There was a time when it was appropriate for the government to be the trail boss of the space program. In 1960 we went from zero to the Moon in less than ten years and it was a government program every step of the way. Which it should have been. In 1960 space travel was new and nobody knew what the hell was going on or what was going to happen and the government did its job well, competently, even brilliantly, at times, shepherding man and his resources to go from nothing to the Moon in ten years.
These Guys Would Muck Up A Wet Dream: But the time for government setting the pace has passed. One, the visionary leadership that took us to the Moon is gone. Now, there isn't even a follow up in place for the space shuttle when it's retired next year, meaning the only country to put men on the Moon will no longer be able to put someone in orbit.
Two, a couple of generations into the space age, there are now private companies building spacecraft. This is not a surprise. The private sector has always taken what the government started and bettered it. The US Army was one of the first customers of the Wright Brothers, but it was private industry that transformed aviation. The ENIAC, the first general purpose electronic computer, was funded by the US Army and was about the size of a bachelor pad, but the Computer Age was ushered in by private business and now we can watch videos of our relatives cats and now I have a smart phone in my pocket.
And so it will be with space exploration. Some will wonder if private enterprise should be trusted with the risks inherent with space travel, but NASA has had its share of failures. Apollo 1 left its astronauts fried on the launch pad and forty percent of the space shuttle fleet had disintegrated while in flight.
Not that this is a criticism. Tragedy strikes when you explore. In the old days ships sank while crossing the Atlantic so it should be no surprise that people have died while exploring space.
ORDER IN THE COURT: The Supreme Court of the United States convened for the first time on this date in 1790. Like a lot of new businesses, they had a tough time drumming up trade, and would not hear their first case until August of 1791.
Play Ball: On this date, in 1876, the National League of Professional Baseball Clubs was formed in New York City. Of the eight original members, only the Chicago Cubs and Atlanta Braves are still on the league and only the Cubs are in their original city. It would remain the only major league until 1882 when the American Association was formed.
Woof Woof: On this date, in 1925, dog sleds reach Nome, Alaska with a diphtheria serum required to prevent an epidemic. 20 mushers and about 150 sled dogs raced over 600 miles in five-and-a-half days. The event would inspire the Iditarod Sled Dog Race.
Play Ball II: The American Basketball Association is formed on this date in 1967. The New York Nets, San Antonio Spurs, Denver Nuggets and Indiana Pacers would join the National Basketball Association in 1976, and the NBA still pays a full share of its television revenue to the owners of the St. Louis franchise.
Thought For The Day: Lethargy [is] the forerunner of death to the public liberty. - Thomas Jefferson
Answer To The Last Trivia Question: The first animal sent into orbit around the Earth was Laika, who was launched aboard Sputnik 2 in November, 1957. Laika, a stray found on the streets of Moscow, was selected because it was presumed that a Moscow mutt was accustomed to being cold and hungry and could endure those conditions in space if required. After a few hours Laika stopped sending vital signs, but even if she hadn't the Soviets had included some poisoned food to insure she died because there had never been any plans to retrieve Sputnik 2, which would fall back to Earth and burn up in the atmosphere several months later.
Today's Stumper: Of the eight original National League cities, which ones no longer have major league teams? - Answer next time!
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