End of an Era

[nwhiker]

The kids and I watched Atlantis take off this time.

The last flight of a space shuttle, and the United States has officially had its wings cut.

FUCK YOU, Bush, and fuck you Obama, for making and letting this happen.

Because it's more than just the shuttle program ending: there is no upgrade plan.

What comes next for the US in space? We get to beg the Russians and the Chinese. We'll attempt to "monetise" space, I'm sure, to get private enterprise to "take over". End result of that, of course, will be that the government will subsidise to the tune of zillions and expertise, and the private sector will get what benefits there are.

Fundamental research? HAH!

Space exploration has marked my life. I remember some of the Apollo missions. I was born in 64. I've been nothing but proud of the NASA has accomplished. The bull about finances is just that. We spend three times NASA's annual budget on air conditioning in Afghanistan. What we don't have any longer is the will to spend money on things that makes us grow, and learn. Now, everything must profit the very rich, and they see no money in a space program, so the space program is scratched.

So we've ceded space to the Russians, the Chinese, and private enterprise. We've lost the drive, the desire to learn, we've settled into an anti-intellectual, anti-scientific morass. The Dark Ages were dark because people refused to see. We're heading towards obscurantism, and in a sick way, we're proud of it. We see it all over US society, this embrace of teh stupid: non belief in evolution, anti-vaxxers, global climate change deniers. Today is their victory, the victory of stupid over science.

So long, Atlantis, and safe flight! With your last launch, we watched the end of the American space program, the end of an era of exploration, when we thought we could do better, learn more. We've embraced ignorance and religious stupidity, and the consequences of that will be profoundly damaging. Some of the best things about the United States ended today.

Comments

[mariettashirk.livejournal.com]

Amen.

[thinking-lotus.livejournal.com]

I am really sad and angry too, in part because it's so much my childhood and my dad's legacy (he was heavily involved in telescope design through Apollo and Skylab up to and including the Hubble).

I can't believe Soyuz is still going but the shuttle program is over. And we still have tax cuts for mill/billionaires.