As Atlantis nears its landing in about 6 hours, I’ve been reading many articles online about the fate of the US Space Program at the end of this mission. It’s disconcerning in many ways that most folks fear this is the end of space for the United States, and frankly right now, I’m inclined to believe them. With no real plan and not even a clear mission in front of them, I fear we are essentially not only closing the door for the current generation’s eyes to space, but putting thousands of good men and women who have been supporting our shuttle program for 30 years out of jobs, simply because space isn’t a priority anymore to our country. It’s very much parts social, political, and economical.

It’s social because in today’s age, space is no longer relevant to people anymore. Sure we have related genres that have picked up steam in recent years, such as supernatural, comic book heroes, and movies like Transformers, but science fiction and space has taken a back seat since September 11th, 2001 and the economic recession. Kids no longer look to space as something worth working hard for, instead our popular culture is dominated by war games, shooters, action films, and escapist stories, as folks want to forget the hard times.

It’s political because post-September 11th, our government has allocated more and more to military operations and less and less to NASA and space activities. Money has been an issue for NASA since the end of the 90’s, and the hope that the shuttle program would make travel cheaper, that the shuttles would average bi-weekly or tri-weekly flights instead of tri-monthly flights, did not pan out, due to a number of reasons, two being the destruction of Challenger and Columbia. When you think about it though, for the 135 flights made by five different shuttles, three surviving, in 30 years, is still an impressive accomplishment and while no one wanted to lose those lives, I don’t think any of those astronauts were afraid to take that challenge to advance humanity, and the accidents allowed NASA to improve the shuttles and enact safety procedures that made the remaining flights safe and reliable. Ultimately it was Bush who signed the end of the program, but with the idea that the Constellation system would both replace regular flights to the ISS, and also establish operations on the Moon. Obama nixed both, and instead placed the task of making regular trips to the ISS to private companies developing low-orbit spacecraft technology, and set a new mission to astroids and Mars. While ambitious, this left us with no transition between the shuttles and the private spacecraft, as none are ready for flight until 2015 possibly. Instead we have to hitch rides with the Russians, and while they are an important part of station operations and a partner in space, handing the Russians the keys to the US space program just feels like a kick in the gut.

Lastly, it is economical, as mentioned above, the original purpose of the shuttles was to cheapen space flight overall, making more launches in less time and leading to commercial development of spaceworthy vehicles, such as the prototypes from the late 90s. Unfortunately, flights were months apart, and the destruction of two shuttles forced the program to re-evaluate its safety and security constantly, increasing the cost of every flight, as additional measures had to be taken to ensure a successful mission. But when you consider the number of jobs supporting the shuttles and their crew, companies from almost all of the lower 48 states making parts and accessories for the shuttles, and the massive tourism industry boom in Florida and Texas for NASA and its space partners, the amount of return investment there alone, on top of the many technologies developed from space research, has in my opinion, paid for this program for 30 years and beyond. We have an orbiting space station with living humans orbiting the Earth a number of times a day, every day, for the past decade. Harry Potter ended this past week. When Harry Potter started, the first modules of the station were in the sky, and over the past decade we helped build, expand, and assist the station in becoming an international symbol of every nation’s ability to do something good. When they weren’t servicing the station, the shuttles helped launch, retrieve, and repair broken satellites, the former Russian MIR space station, and more. Hubble’s life was extended thanks to the efforts of the STS-125 crew aboard Atlantis, a telescope that wasn’t even supposed to see 10 years much less close to 22 years now was given a new lease on life.

The effects of our shuttle program were far and wide, and despite it’s setbacks, and the sacrifices of 14 incredible astronauts, has made the last 30 years of manned spaceflight worth every moment from the day Kennedy said we’d go to the moon. My only hope is in the next 50 years, we may one day be able to experience what these men and women have for ourselves, thanks to the efforts they have made today.