Up There, Out There, Did You See It?

I missed the Nov. 19 NASA-Air Force rocket launch from Wallops Island, Va., even though I knew about it, read about it on the Herald website, and vowed to watch it. From those who witnessed the aerial show, it was spectacular seen from Cape May County’s chilly beaches. The demon TV and Internet got in the way, and I missed the show.
The record payload was 29 satellites on an Orbital Sciences Minotaur 1 rocket. They were sent into orbit from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility and Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport, somewhere visitors to Chincoteague, Va. have probably visited at least once. The NASA visitor center is one of the closest places to go if you want to get a glimpse of a moon rock.
It’s also fascinating if you are enchanted by things unknown, just out of man’s reach “out there somewhere.” If you are one of those who, in your foolish youth, loved to launch water-filled balloons and firecrackers, or even fashioned paper airplanes out of boredom when you were young, chances are you’d find that place fascinating. Best of all it’s free. Well, OK, nothing is really free, but at least there is no admission charge at the door. You paid already through federal income taxes. So, if that makes it free, so was the rocket show on the beach.
Those who stayed up Sept. 6 to watch another Minotaur 1 rocket, said this was quite similar, so I was told. The most recent launch was on a higher trajectory, which made for better visibility for people with an obstructed horizon.
While I find stargazing truly mind-boggling, space flight always puzzled me. It seemed a waste of money more vast than the emptiness of space. A product of the 1950s, I recall the Russians who kicked sand in our faces when they beat us to the punch and launched Sputnik. Then they put a pooch on board and everybody dubbed him Muttnik. From there, the space race went full throttle, given the vow by President Kennedy that we would put a man on the moon first. Folks in Court House weren’t greatly moved by the notion of space ships, many old timers solemnly warned that space was no place for man, and that man had no right to step onto the moon.
We sat in awe May 5, 1961 as Alan B. Shepard Jr. rode into space aboard Freedom 7. It was an up-and-down flight that lasted about 15.5 minutes. Like the Wright brothers’ flight that was so short, Shepard’s ride was America’s first into the great beyond.
Emboldened by that success, the next Mercury astronaut was Virgil I. Grissom on July 21, 1961. His flight was a few seconds longer than Shepard’s, but his Liberty Bell 7 sank after splashing down in the Atlantic.
After that came an array of names, Aurora 7, Sigma 7, Faith 7, Mercury’s last mission by L. Gordon Cooper Jr. went for 22 orbits to evaluate what a full day in space would do to a human.
Today, there is an International Space Station with astronauts floating around weightless (which we will all wish we were tomorrow after too much turkey and pie). It’s now into Expedition 38, which will last until March 2014. I venture to say, very few of us could recite even one name of an astronaut who was or is aboard the ISS.
We have enjoyed photos they have taken, some published on the Herald’s website, of what New Jersey and elsewhere look like from “up there, somewhere.”
Has all the money been worthwhile for the space program? I’m not going to pass judgment. According to NASA’s website, “Technology used to recycle water aboard the International Space Station has far-reaching implications for clean water delivery to remote locations across the globe.
“The life-giving source of clean water is of utmost importance to a community in rural Mexico, displaying the benefits of the water purification component of NASA’s Environmental and Life Control Support System (ECLSS). ECLSS provides clean water for drinking, cooking and hygiene aboard the space station. This technology has been adapted on Earth to aid remote locations or places devastated by natural disaster that do not have access to clean drinking water.”
“Children in Chiapas, (Mexico) previously sickened by parasites and stomach bugs, now have access during school to clean, safe drinking water. This is due to the installation of the ECLSS-derived water purification plant. Renewable solar energy powers the water treatment technology for the community in Chiapas. Results include improved overall health and cost-savings from not having to buy purified water or medication to treat water-borne illnesses.”
Another field assisted for the better by the ISS is farming. “From outer space to the wide open spaces of farmland in Crookston, Minn., the benefits originating from International Space Station research and technology stretch far and wide. The space station provides a microgravity environment for researchers to conduct multidisciplinary investigations, for educators to inspire next generation scientists and engineers, and to serve as a steppingstone to future exploration that was not possible just 15 years ago.”
Of lesser importance is a gadget I spotted in one of those mail catalogs, it was reportedly a ballpoint pen that, thanks to NASA research, even works when you are writing upside down. It was one of those things I wondered about. Why would anybody want to write upside down, wouldn’t they get dizzy?
Even though I missed the latest launch, I’ll continue to gaze into the darkness of the night (or morning) and feel small. I’ll look at the arrangements of constellations and stars, like the North Star, that haven’t changed throughout history, and wonder about the Creator who made them and me. How, I puzzle, can anyone not be thankful?