Current Events Watch

So the space shuttle Endeavor launch went off without a hitch. That’s a good thing. Hope re-entry goes as well. I’ll admit I’m quite addicted to watching every shuttle launch, I find it exciting and fascinating, even though it’s like watching a Seinfeld rerun. I’ve seen every episode a thousand times, and know exactly what’s going to happen next, but I still watch.

But why? Why are we spending 16 billion-plus dollars each year to finance NASA for, as far as I can tell, little or no purpose, other than for my entertainment in watching shuttle takeoffs and landings, and an occassional video of the astronauts, once in space, trying to catch floating M&Ms or some such thing in their mouths? Fun! And it’s probably really cool to float, too. Sixteen billion dollars worth of cool, though, maybe not.

Of course, it seems that most of the last several missions have been to make repairs to, or haul supplies to the International Space Station. Which is also pretty cool, but why is the ISS there in the first place, that it would even require repairs or supplies? What are those people doing up there? It’s a research station, but what exactly are they researching?

Maybe 16 billion dollars could be better spent here on earth, that’s all I’m saying.

I could be wrong, wouldn’t be the first time. I’m not the only one asking, though. NASA found it necessary to have their site include a What Have We Done For You Lately page. So here’s what they proudly tout as one of their achievements:

In the early 1960s, Doug Englebart — who started his career working on wind tunnels at the Ames Aeronautical Laboratory (now NASA’s Ames Research Center) — was at the Stanford Research Institute, looking into different options for manipulating data on computer screens.

Englebart says he had already been “dreaming and pushing about using computer interactivity for about a decade” when a grant from NASA helped him launch a study of various devices. His primitive mouse won out, and the little device many of us couldn’t live without today had been born.

No, NASA didn’t invent the mouse, but it wouldn’t be the first or last time NASA-related research led to a culture-changing innovation.

Does that have anything to do with space exploration? Dougie never donned a space suit. He made a mouse. Thank God he did, I’m using it now, but still. There’s more, you can check it out if you’re interested. I just thought it was weird that that was one of their primary justifications.

And here we learn about shiny protective clothing, products that take care of oil spills, and how they’ve made racecar drivers safer. For all I know, they may also have been responsible for the invention of OxiClean and the Wonder Mop.

Great, the research is wonderful, and the products are fabulous. You could sell them all on the Home Shopping Network. But the research that led to these most wondrous things was done right here, on terra firma, not in space. And yet, these are the best reasons that even NASA can provide to explain why the space program is important. I doubt if the research for any of these projects would have required 16 billion dollars. Do the research, create new products, but if you’re not going to do it in zero gravity, send the remaining billions to something that truly is important. Those floating M&Ms, and those always-enjoyable floating astronauts, are costing all of us way too much. I can probably kick my addiction to watching the takeoffs and landings. There’s always rehab.