Anniversary of Space Shuttle Columbia Disaster

Today is the 20th anniversary of the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, when the orbiter broke up on reentry. I just drove by Space Center Houston, and the orbiter mockup sitting on the back of the 747 brought back some sad memories of that day and those that followed.

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hippyjoe1955 · 61-69, M

Both the Challenger and Columbia were tragic in the the loss of lives and equipment and the huge money pit that space travel has become. I remember the heady excitement of the first earth obit and then the first lunar landing and then the excitement ebbed as the technology failed to advance. Our chemical rockets are just not up to the task of taking us anywhere of significance. Maybe to Mars? What do we hope to gain by going there? The moon turned out to be a waste of time and money so what do we hope to gain by going to Mars? Until our technology improves drastically space travel will be a effort in futility. Kind of like a Tesla car. Great idea, great concept but...... Yeah the technology just is not there.

exexec · 61-69, C

@hippyjoe1955 Although I spent my career working in the manned space program, I agree with much of what you wrote. On the other hand, I am amazed at what the unmanned space programs have accomplished on a fraction of the cost of the manned programs.

hippyjoe1955 · 61-69, M

@exexec It is pretty neat what the Voyager program accomplished as well as the Mars lander just for curiosity sake but in reality none of our space travels have really helped us gain an understanding of how the world works. Yes we have gained some technology from the investment but not as much as we often assume. My old engineering dean at university was recruited by NASA to work on the Apollo program fresh out university himself. He spent a year doing full scale drawings rolling around on a car creeper. He quit after that year and found something more productive to do with his time.