Goodbye and Farewell

[danalwyn]

I'm a physicist by training, and physicists have never really like the shuttle program. It was a huge waste of money, a lot of expenditure of cash on sending people on the world's most expensive roller coaster ride in lieu of doing actual science (I think what really rubbed it in was the claims that the shuttle was up there to do scientific experiments). Their ability to do things like fix the Hubble Space Telescope was offset by the fact that each shuttle mission cost about $450 million - in other words we could probably build a new Hubble in exchange for three shuttle launches. The shuttle, and the ability to put a human being into space, needed to be upgraded years ago with newer, cheaper, and probably lower-flying technology. The money spent on NASA probably would have better benefited the human race by being spent on NASA's robotic exploration program then it did sending people into space to grow crystals.

That being said, there's still something monumentally nostalgic about the image of the shuttle landing for the last time. We've always cursed the shuttle, but we've done it with the obscure pride of knowing that human beings were still stepping into space. Now we have to wonder whether this is just a temporary break in the greater scheme of things, or if humanity has begun to turn its back on the stars for another generation. Let's all hope we figure out a better way to get up there soon.

Comments

[silverjackal]

One thing I've never quite understood is why they just shut Hubble down rather than repairing it/replacing it. (Pardon my ignorance please, I'm not up on the field, and wasn't even really certain where to look for information.) Has the Hubble Space Telescope in fact been replaced with something better/more useful, and I just didn't hear about it?

I was also always baffled by the apparently miniscule bits of real science that came out of the space shuttle program. Now I understand why. :D

[danalwyn]

Actually, I think Hubble is still running. This site seems to indicate that Hubble is at the least still producing results, and may be for some time, although there will still be a gap between the retirement of Hubble and the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope. The problem though is probably that Hubble is just getting less interesting - they want to look at other things. I think they may be switching to other parts of the spectrum (not sure about this), and they can't put that capability into Hubble without completely replacing the optics, which they can't do in space.

I'm not up on astrophysics, unfortunately, so I don't know who's doing what, except that the frontiers, cosmic microwaves and neutrinos, are both outside of Hubble's purview.

There was always sort of a public perception that the shuttle was like the Enterprise, equipped with a wide array of scientific sensors that could do astronomical readings. It wasn't. The shuttle was a cargo truck with an extended cab, and the idea of needing $450 million to go up and study the effects of weightlessness on beetles always rubbed everyone else the wrong way.

(It feels really weird to write about the shuttle in the past tense).

[silverjackal]

Now this explanation makes sense (and I suspected it was the case that Hubble just wasn't worth maintaining for some reason). It's good to know that there will be something after, too.

The shuttle was a cargo truck with an extended cab

*opens mouth to make cultural smart remark*

*thinks about all of the unnecessary testosterone vehicles on the road here*

*closes mouth*

It does indicated some of the mentality of those in charge, yes?