Chapter 72.7: God Speed, Columbus

Perhaps this isn't the most appropriate lead into a post, but I missed the actual fiftieth anniversary of NASA last week, so I'm doing it anyway. Today, Space Shuttle Atlantis launched successfully into space, carrying with it the Columbus lab built by the European Space Agency. If all goes right, it will dock with the International Space Station on Saturday.

I refuse to be spooked by the backstory of how this launch was supposed to occur in December but was delayed due to malfunctioning fuel-tank sensors, and how rainy weather almost scuttled the flight today. I prefer to think of how fitting that after fifty years of American dominance in space (ok, the Russians have certainly proven they are quite capable, but we got to the Moon), we are venturing forward in a much more global endeavor. There are many detractors out there who believe spending tax money to ship people into space is a waste, but I disagree. I'm all for looking toward the future and supporting work that is designed to make the future something worth reaching.

I like that governments -- as well as individuals -- support discovery, support adventure. Sure it can be risky, as the numerous deaths in our skies and closer to earth can attest to. In my eyes the tragedy isn't simply that these people died (of course, that's terrible), but that most Americans don't appreciate what these astronauts are striving to achieve and thus seem to die in vain. Such a comment begs the question: What are the astronauts trying to do? Obviously, the answer is different with each mission, but in a nutshell, they're trying to advance civilization, small step by small step.

I'm sure people could argue about how rockets and the satellites they carry can be automated, and high-placed officials with the right credentials argue about those very things and build informed trains of thought. But there's still something to be said for human adventure. And as it would have been tragic if other Europeans didn't follow Columbus to the newly discovered America, so too is it tragic if this Columbus is not followed by other laboratories, other astronauts, other human-based missions. To the Moon, Alice, and on to Mars. But not before we have an informed understanding of what is involved in getting there.

God Speed, Atlantis. Deliver Columbus to her destination. And come back safe. There's more to do in the future.

Chapter 71.7: A Man Atop the World

Sir Edmund Hillary, the first man to reach the summit of Mount Everest, has died. Ad Astra, Sir Ed.

Less well known is that Hillary had ventured to Antarctica, too, the first time just a few years after his trek to the mountaintop. In fact, he died days after the fiftieth anniversary of his arrival at the South Pole. Decades later, he and Neil Armstrong, the first man to set foot on the moon, flew over the Arctic and landed (back when that was still possible). So Sir Ed was the first to set foot on both poles and the Everest summit.

What I like about Hillary is that he remained humble. Moreover, he helped the people of Nepal. Unlike the way these things usually happen, Tenzing Norgay, his partner on the Everest climb, became nearly as famous as Hillary; it's all too common that the white man is credited with the accomplishment (read also Matthew Henson, who was first to reach the North Pole). Only after Norgay wrote that Hillary was actually first atop Everest -- by about six feet -- did Hillary take the credit. They shared their fame. It's an example I hope other adventurers follow.