While I'm sure that some of the buzz the shuttle is getting is a result of the "Well, you don't see that every day" factor, the level of coverage the shuttle retirement has gotten still confuses me. After all, the reason it is available for this little tour is that we've cancelled the shuttle program and essentially retired from exploring space. If all these people had been this interested in what was happening with the shuttle while it was still operational maybe we'd still have a space program. I know that it is human nature to not want something until you find out you can't have it anymore, but people shouldn't be waxing poetic about something after the fact when a little effort before that point could have saved the shuttle from extinction. It is like the rock band Cinderella once reminded us, "you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone." And when 80s hair bands are providing the most accurate insight into a situation you know something has gone terribly wrong.
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Final Flight
Last week there was a big show made out of NASA flying the shuttle Discovery from Florida up to Washington, D.C. where it will be put on display at the Smithsonian Air & Space museum. Every news organization seemed to have the same very dramatic pictures of the shuttle getting a ride on the back of a special 747. Then the other day Twitter was abuzz with pictures of the shuttle being flown passed the Statue of Liberty, one of those very cool moments which makes me happy for the invention of cellphone cameras as in the past only a select few people would have been able to see that as it happened. At first I thought the shuttle was being taken on some kind of victory lap, but then I learn the one in New York wasn't the actual shuttle, just a prototype.This got me thinking about how weird it is that everyone was so excited to see this shuttle, which wasn't even the real thing, flying passed them. I remember when the Bruins won the Stanley Cup last year and it was sent on a tour of New England. Something tells me the lines wouldn't have been so long if the trophy had been a replica.
While I'm sure that some of the buzz the shuttle is getting is a result of the "Well, you don't see that every day" factor, the level of coverage the shuttle retirement has gotten still confuses me. After all, the reason it is available for this little tour is that we've cancelled the shuttle program and essentially retired from exploring space. If all these people had been this interested in what was happening with the shuttle while it was still operational maybe we'd still have a space program. I know that it is human nature to not want something until you find out you can't have it anymore, but people shouldn't be waxing poetic about something after the fact when a little effort before that point could have saved the shuttle from extinction. It is like the rock band Cinderella once reminded us, "you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone." And when 80s hair bands are providing the most accurate insight into a situation you know something has gone terribly wrong.
While I'm sure that some of the buzz the shuttle is getting is a result of the "Well, you don't see that every day" factor, the level of coverage the shuttle retirement has gotten still confuses me. After all, the reason it is available for this little tour is that we've cancelled the shuttle program and essentially retired from exploring space. If all these people had been this interested in what was happening with the shuttle while it was still operational maybe we'd still have a space program. I know that it is human nature to not want something until you find out you can't have it anymore, but people shouldn't be waxing poetic about something after the fact when a little effort before that point could have saved the shuttle from extinction. It is like the rock band Cinderella once reminded us, "you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone." And when 80s hair bands are providing the most accurate insight into a situation you know something has gone terribly wrong.
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