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From the Executive Director

Human Spaceflight Tragedies - the Anniversary and the Future

January 26 , 2006

Click to enlarge > Louis Friedman, Executive Director

The next 7 days, from January 27 to February 1, will see the anniversaries of the three major tragedies in American spaceflight. On January 27, 1967, during a test-run on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral, three astronauts were killed by fire in the Apollo 1 command module. On January 28, 1986, the space shuttle Challenger exploded shortly after launch, killing seven astronauts. And on February 1, 2003, the shuttle Columbia broke apart in reentry, killing another seven astronauts.

Each tragedy set back the course of human spaceflight, but they did not stop it. Each time the United States, and indeed the world, came together to reaffirm the value of sending humans to explore space. Most recently, after the Columbia tragedy the U.S. administration announced a Vision for Space Exploration to take humans beyond Earth orbit, back to the Moon, and on to Mars.

The Vision for Space Exploration also defined the end of the space shuttle era. Retiring the shuttle by 2010 (8 to 15 years earlier than was planned at the time) was a key element of the policy, recognized as necessary to free up funds for new vehicles to take us beyond Earth orbit, where we have been stuck for more than 30 years. The vision also recognized that the shuttle, although an outstanding technical achievement in the annals of flight, was actually an impediment to the future of human spaceflight.

The shuttle’s return-to-flight in July of last year graphically illustrated that spacecraft’s true burden: risks, whether real or imagined, will hamper all remaining flights, and its costs have soared to the point where the upcoming fiscal year 2007 budget will probably scale back science and robotic exploration to pay for the shuttle.

The Planetary Society poses the question, should the shuttle fly again? As champions of exploration -- both human and robotic -- we fear the counter-productivity of funneling money into this outdated technology. As champions of international cooperation, we worry that being compelled to follow agreements that are likely no longer realizable, we may actually hinder international goals for human spaceflight, at least in the U.S., Europe, and Japan.

The litmus test will be the President’s fiscal year 2007 budget, due to be released on February 6. Will this budget reflect a commitment to the past or to the future? Will it include the long-awaited mission to Jupiter’s moon, Europa? Will the space science budget sustain the program now in place, or will it be scaled back? On February 7, will the retirement of the shuttle by 2010 and the commitment to exploration in the Vision still be credible?

For all this, and more, stay tuned to this website and to Planetary Radio.  I would also like to encourage Planetary Society members to join me in discussing these topics at our Members Forum. Ultimately, the public will determine the answers to the questions posed above, and our members will be in the vanguard.

Louis Friedman
Executive Director