By: Daniel Nardini
Last Saturday, May 28th, was the last spacewalk by a space shuttle crew. The space walk was done on the space shuttle the Endeavor. After this the Endeavor will be forever retired. In fact, the whole space shuttle program is fast nearing an end. There will no longer be space shuttles launched into space. There will no longer be space shuttles used to do the work of building the International Space Station. The space shuttle program, which for the United States goes back to 1979, has proven to be a costly affair in money, resources and especially lives.
When the first space shuttles came out, the people at the National Aeronautical Space Agency (NASA) believed that they had come up with a state-of-the-art vehicle that would solve all their problems. When the U.S. Congress began to cut funding for NASA, NASA had to come out with a new type of vehicle to replace the booster rockets they had used for sending spacecraft to the Moon. The result was the space shuttle (officially called the space transportation system). The space shuttle could be reused, had all the latest technology, and could be used to help maintain a possible space station being constructed by the United States. To everybody, this seemed to be the ideal space craft.
There were three major problems with the space shuttle. It was in fact too complicated. Its control mechanisms did not all work right, and it was extremely hard to merge new technology with the primary systems of the shuttle. There were some design flaws of certain parts of the shuttle itself. One of which was the solar panels that kept braking off and the heat shield that eventually gave out during the Colombia disaster in 2003. The final major problem was that NASA had put all of its eggs in one basket. Instead of developing more fuel efficient, more cost efficient booster rockets and better space capsules, the U.S. government just kept on pouring more money into the space shuttle program.
The Russians, the Chinese and indeed the European Union did the opposite by developing better booster rockets and space capsules—building on technology already tried and proven. The United States is now switching back to this. NASA is beginning to look back at where it left off with the Apollo Moon missions and the rockets and space capsules they used to use. This is in my view a step in the right direction. This way the United States will still be part of space exploration. And in the long run using technology that is already tried and proven will save this country a lot of money, resources and lives. This may be the last space walk on board a space shuttle, but it will be far from being the only walk in space by an American.
The Last Spacewalk
By: Daniel Nardini
Last Saturday, May 28th, was the last spacewalk by a space shuttle crew. The space walk was done on the space shuttle the Endeavor. After this the Endeavor will be forever retired. In fact, the whole space shuttle program is fast nearing an end. There will no longer be space shuttles launched into space. There will no longer be space shuttles used to do the work of building the International Space Station. The space shuttle program, which for the United States goes back to 1979, has proven to be a costly affair in money, resources and especially lives.
When the first space shuttles came out, the people at the National Aeronautical Space Agency (NASA) believed that they had come up with a state-of-the-art vehicle that would solve all their problems. When the U.S. Congress began to cut funding for NASA, NASA had to come out with a new type of vehicle to replace the booster rockets they had used for sending spacecraft to the Moon. The result was the space shuttle (officially called the space transportation system). The space shuttle could be reused, had all the latest technology, and could be used to help maintain a possible space station being constructed by the United States. To everybody, this seemed to be the ideal space craft.
There were three major problems with the space shuttle. It was in fact too complicated. Its control mechanisms did not all work right, and it was extremely hard to merge new technology with the primary systems of the shuttle. There were some design flaws of certain parts of the shuttle itself. One of which was the solar panels that kept braking off and the heat shield that eventually gave out during the Colombia disaster in 2003. The final major problem was that NASA had put all of its eggs in one basket. Instead of developing more fuel efficient, more cost efficient booster rockets and better space capsules, the U.S. government just kept on pouring more money into the space shuttle program.
The Russians, the Chinese and indeed the European Union did the opposite by developing better booster rockets and space capsules—building on technology already tried and proven. The United States is now switching back to this. NASA is beginning to look back at where it left off with the Apollo Moon missions and the rockets and space capsules they used to use. This is in my view a step in the right direction. This way the United States will still be part of space exploration. And in the long run using technology that is already tried and proven will save this country a lot of money, resources and lives. This may be the last space walk on board a space shuttle, but it will be far from being the only walk in space by an American.