Launch of Endeavour, March 11, 2008 at 1:28am central
I am watching the docking coverage of the shuttle Endeavour with the International Space Station. The more I watch it, the more amazed by it all I get. The space shuttle is 100 tons; the Space Station is 300 tons. Both of them are traveling at about five miles every second, or 17, 500 miles per hour! That’s crazy fast, but being up over 200 miles, the speeds don't seem that fast. In fact, relative speed between the two spacecraft right before docking is about one inch per second. To some this may not seem like a big deal, but for many who understand the concepts of physics, and what it takes to launch something and rendezvous and dock with something and do it right the first time, every time, all of this with the most complex machine ever built, it’s just flat out amazing!
This is the will be the twenty-fifth docking of a space shuttle to the International Space Station which has been on orbit since 1998. Crews have continuously occupied it since November 2, 2000. During that time, over 150 people have visited the station, many more than once! There have been 40 manned dockings, including STS-123, and 31 unmanned dockings (with the first European docking to occur in early April, increasing the number to 32). That is 61 dockings! Since the first space station piece launched in 1998, over 104 EVA’s or spacewalks have occurred dedicated to ISS maintenance and construction, with 5 more coming on this current mission.
I can be a critic of the shuttle and station programs, but they are still truly amazing programs. I am for exploring. I can settle for the Moon, but Mars is where I think that we should really go. I do believe the space station, as well as the shuttle program will have their benefits, and will help us in learning how to work and build things in space. The biggest thing that the ISS taught us is how to work together internationally. This is the largest multinational engineering and science project in human history.
When the space shuttle program ends, and the Orbiter’s are retired, it will truly be sad. Not “it’s the end” sad, but “those were amazing vehicles” sad. They have been flying since 1981, and designed in the early 70’s, so their retirement is long overdue. That means after this mission, there will only be 11 flights remaining. That is assuming they launch the contingency resupply missions (STS-131 and STS-133). The final flight I plan on seeing. If it is STS-133, it will be launched in July of 2010. I will be there. This is like watching the last Gemini mission. I would not compare it to watching the last lunar landing, for the fact that we are going to do something grander than what we are doing now. In 1966 when Gemini 12 landed, it was sad, but they knew back then that the next program was Apollo. Likewise, the next program for us is the Constellation Program. I just hope nothing is cut till we set up a base on the moon, which will be between 2020 and 2024. Once we have established a base on the moon, with crews rotating every six months, it will be very hard for congress to cancel a program like that. Then we can focus on Mars.
Don’t get me wrong, if they decided tomorrow that we would skip the moon all together and go to Mars, I would be the happiest person on the planet, save for Robert Zubrin, president of the Mars Society. But it probably won’t happen that way. You can read my previous post on my views of Mars Direct.
As the space shuttle docks tonight with the ISS, it does inspire me to continue to work towards being an Aerospace Engineer. I have loved space since I first saw a space shuttle launch, in 1998. Curiously it was John Glenn’s Return to flight, making him the oldest man in space. I believe the mission was STS-95, Orbiter Discovery. This year will be 10 years of spaceflight passion for me. Time flies.
I still do not know whether I want to go straight to the private sector of space travel, or go to NASA first. Every time I read about the company Space Exploration Technologies, my passion for the private industry grows larger. It’s amazing that by the end of this decade, maybe 2011 at the worst case, SpaceX will launch the first private space capsule to the International Space Station. Yes, it will be unmanned, but it has the capability to support 7 people. I think NASA would be stupid not to use it during the Shuttle Gap. Not only will they be launching what they call the “Dragon” Capsule, but they will be launching it using their own rocket that they designed. It’s called the Falcon 9. The first test launches should be sometime next year. I do believe at the pace that NASA is going that very soon, possibly in the late 20’s, the private industry will leapfrog NASA. Whether that means mining on the moon, or crewed missions to asteroids or Mars, I could not tell you, but it will happen.
For now, I continue to work towards being an AE. I view things like STS-123 as well as other missions for motivation. For somebody like me, there isn’t anything more motivating or inspiring as watching a space shuttle mission.
Shuttle Missions Remaining:
STS-124 – Discovery – Launch May 25, 2008- Large Japanese Lab (Kibo)
STS-125 – Atlantis – Launch August 28, 2008- Last Hubble servicing mission, Atlantis’s last mission
STS-119 – Endeavour – Launch October 16, 2008- Supply mission
STS-126 – Discovery – Launch December 4, 2008- S6 Solar array (the final large solar array and the completion of the truss)
STS-127 – Endeavour – Launch January 15, 2009- Japanese Lab exposed facility
STS-128 – Discovery – Launch April 9, 2009- Supply Mission
STS-129 – Endeavour – Launch July 9, 2009- EXPRESS Logistics Carrier (ELC) 1 and 2
STS-130 – Discovery – Launch September 30, 2009- supply mission
STS-131 – Endeavour – Launch January 2010- Contingency supply mission, ELC3 and 4
STS-132 – Discovery – Launch April 1, 2010- Node 3 and the cupola, Discovery’s last mission
STS-133 – Endeavour – Launch July 15, 2010- Contingency supply mission, ELC5, final space shuttle flight
Final configuration of the International Space Station
