Barnabas File

On July 20, we marked the 45 th anniversary of the first human landing on the Moon.   Like most people, I was pinned to the television to watch the grainy pictures of the first steps by Apollo 11 astronauts on an alien world.   Once Apollo was over, human exploration of the Moon ended.   In fact, we retreated to near Earth orbit and left exploration farther out to automated probes and instrumented landers.   I must admit that I am disappointed when I realize that my grandchildren have never seen a real live person walk on the Moon.   Apollo is ancient history for them. In addition, the United States no longer has an active crewed spacecraft capable of achieving orbit.  With the end of the Space Shuttle program, Americans are dependent on Russians to take American astronauts into space.  NASA talks about human missions to Mars, but I would not hold my breath about the possibilities.  The United States Air Force seems more interested in dron...

An American space capsule returned safely to earth today with a major difference—the logo on the side was SpaceX and not NASA.  This was a commercial endeavor in cooperation with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.  Watching the live television feed of the splashdown took me back to the 1960s and the return of American astronauts from orbit. Although the SpaceX Dragon capsule did not carry any astronauts, such an application is a distinct possibility in the future. Like many others, I was disappointed when the NASA space shuttle program was shut down and the United States no longer could carry personnel or cargo into space and to the International Space Station.  For the first time in 50 years, we no longer had that capability and were dependent on other nations for such accessibility.  SpaceX is a commercial enterprise and a very ambitious one.  Not only do they seek to resupply the ISS on a regular basis, but they hope to be able to f...

The HBO series 1998 miniseries From the Earth to the Moon tells the story of the Apollo program, the program that landed six spacecraft on the moon. The series does not fail to point out the sacrifices—human lives, marriages, careers—that contributed to that success. As a result of the Apollo mission, twelve men walked on the surface of the moon, returning valuable knowledge about its structure and possible origins. At the same time, these astronauts only touched a small part of a globe with the land mass of Africa. Only toward the end was a geologist included on a crew. What if more scientists could spend time there? What about artists and other creative people? The series is particularly poignant since 12 years after this series was produced and 38 years after the last human walked on the moon, our President indicates that the moon is “old hat” and it is time to move on to new challenges. We still know very little about our nearest planetary neighbor. When the United States was ...

I just completed reading Failure is Not an Option by Gene Kranz, flight director for many of the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo space missions. A friend had also read it recently. He commented, “If current workplace regulations had been in effect in the 60s, we would never have made it to the moon!” Whether he was serious or kidding, his comment reminds me how dangerous space flight has been and still is. Kranz points out that many of the missions succeeded only due to hard work, perseverance, God’s grace, and pure luck. The early members of the NASA team were brought up short by the death of three astronauts-–Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee—during a static test on a launch pad on January 27, 1967. It was a tragic event but not the last one that would take the lives of American (and Russian) astronauts. In his book, Kranz notes that Grissom recognized the danger in his work. One of the original Mercury astronauts, he almost drowned when his capsule took on water before he could ...

As a child of the 50’s and a young adult of the 60’s, the NASA space program was always front and center for me. The men (no women at that point) of the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs pushed the limits of human endurance and skill to engage the challenges of space. This week we have observed the 40th anniversary of the first manned landing on the moon. Crew members Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins were celebrated at gatherings in Washington this week and urged President Obama to pursue the next great adventure—manned exploration of Mars. At this point, the President appears reluctant to undertake this task. Manned flight to the moon and Mars offer significant benefits for our nation and humankind. At this point about one cent for every taxpayer dollar goes into the space program, much less than we put into the military. In the face of other pressing needs such as healthcare, why should we spend money on this venture? First, manned spaceflight offers immediate tech...