At first I quasi-ignored it until I saw the footage of it take off and land. I was still smarting from the President's cancellation of NASA'a Constellation program. But then I watched the attached four minute Youtube video of the event and I realized something about the Virgin Galactic vehicle. It hit me just how much it looked like the 'futuristic' space vehicles of 1950s-1990s science fiction. It really is a sight to behold. Even the takeoff in that purposed built mother ship looked like an episode of Thunderbirds or UFO or Buck Rogers. For those who recall Walt Disney's Man in Space episode the landing is eerily similar. ( I have attached that Youtube video as well; the landing scene is at the 3:30 minute point).
Not long ago I did a post that blasted the administration for canning the Constellation program and effectively leaving us without a domestic manned space flight ability. While I still feel it is a mistake to deny ourselves local access to manned lift, I have since come to learn that the Constellation program had way to many issues and was not the right path. That aside I also made the following commentary:
But my real sense of loss is for the young stargazers. I grew up in the era of Apollo and watched the moon walks on TV. Later generations had the Shuttle (STS) to hang their collective nation pride on. Many of us pursued aerospace careers with fantasies about being astronauts fueling our dreams. Kids growing up now will have no such kindling to fire their imaginations. Without a new crop of 'space cadets', America will likely lose her grand place as a true space faring nation. It could not happen at a worse time. With regional hegemons like China just getting their programs ramped up and Russia selling seats to anyone who needs lift, we have picked a curious time to just 'up and surrender' the lead.
But when I see that ship glide in from an azure blue sky and lightly touchdown on a runway, kissing the ground with the grace of a ballerina and throwing nothing away in the process; when I see grown men in macho flight suits hop out with smiles on their faces that would shame a kid on Christmas morning, pearly white grins that could blind a Gila Monster, I realize something important. I was wrong. I was looking backwards. I am so in love with the dream that NASA promised but was never able to fulfill, the dream of space exploration and the common man in space.
But when I see that ship glide in from an azure blue sky and lightly touchdown on a runway, kissing the ground with the grace of a ballerina and throwing nothing away in the process; when I see grown men in macho flight suits hop out with smiles on their faces that would shame a kid on Christmas morning, pearly white grins that could blind a Gila Monster, I realize something important. I was wrong. I was looking backwards. I am so in love with the dream that NASA promised but was never able to fulfill, the dream of space exploration and the common man in space.
I also compare the swan like arrival of this painfully sexy ship to the ungainly flop of the parachuteborne capsules. I finally get it. The future is not the return to throw away rockets. That is what the Russians do (and do well) but it is not the future, it is making do with relics of the past. The future is touching down on a New Mexico runway and saying "Here I am, come and get me".
I realize this is a puddle jump compared to NASA's accomplishments but with the government focused on more earthly issues this is very likely the future of manned spaceflight in America (and it really is a beautiful ship ta'boot). We are back at a doorstep we were at 50 years ago and this tme without the political pressures to make the impossible possible and to drag tomorrow into today. This time we can proceed at an economically viable pace. Now that is something today's young stargazers and space cadets can get excited about. They can get a historical 'do over' with the experience and 20-20 hindsight and half of a century of experience. Combine that with modern technology and the natural human desire to peek over the next horizon and the sky in NOT the limit.
I am pretty sure Burt Rutan will be to civilian space flight what Werner Von Braun was to NASA.
This video is 4 minutes long and I encourage you to watch it.
Then compare it to this Disney episode!
"To find fault is easy; to do better may be difficult.".......Plutarch
