Besides Tang, What?

The nasty little powdered orange-like fruit drink didn’t actually originate with the manned space program – it was a fairly unsuccessful product first marketed by General Foods in 1959 – but its popularity exploded when astronaut John Glenn had it on his menu in his 1962 Mercury flight and it continued to fly off the shelves as the product was continued into the two-man Gemini program. The popular mythology is that aside from Tang, the U.S. space program has been nothing more than geeky boondoggle and national arrogance with hundreds of billions wasted that could have been deployed to solve dire social problems back here on earth. With the shuttle program shuddered, there is a growing cry in these budgetarily-impaired times to shelve the next stage… indefinitely.

The space program has done more for job creation, invention of cutting-edge technology, compact computer systems, batteries with longer lives, environmental controls and telecommunications than any major governmental program… or private initiative for that matter. Oh sure, the military has indirectly fomented some pretty spectacular technology, but that proclivity to kill, maim and destroy takes a tad of cachet off that baby. Not all the technology was invented through NASA’s direct efforts, but their demand for new technology and willingness to fund research and order the resulting products has moved the United States to its current status as the most technologically advanced nation on earth.

Integrated circuits – from that seemingly simplistic motherboard mentality to becoming the precursor to the modern-day microchip – were invented by Texas Instruments but funded the Apollo program and the Air Force's Minuteman Missile Project. The fabrics used in space are often lighter and stronger than steel that now permeate sports of all kinds, the recycling of waste onboard manned projects that remain aloft for long periods of time, the amazing robotic cameras that televise our national sports from extraordinary angles, cell phones, water filtration systems, the famous “jaws of life” that have extracted so many auto accident victims from their potential automotive coffins, modern spot removers and chemicals used in restoring ancient art, nutrition-packed baby formula that has saved millions in famine-pl agued third world nations, satellite communications… the list is endless. But the net result is a quality of life that we would not have enjoyed without these scientific achievements and a vast series of major industries that were literally born in the space program that now employ millions of Americans.

With shuttle aircraft being packed off as museum pieces all around the country, you simply have to ask, “What’s next, and when do we get started?” Our budget woes are making that a tough question to answer, particularly since you don’t really know in advance when the specific benefits of such random scientific efforts might be. “The 135th and final flight of America's space shuttle fleet landed safely at the Kennedy Space Center early [July 21^st] -- ending the three-decade lifetime of a technologically remarkable and versatile spacecraft the likes of which the world is unlikely to see for a very long time. The shuttle Atlantis and its four crew members touched down at 5:56 a.m. after a 13-day mission to the Inter national Space Station.” Washington Post, July 21^st.

I’m Peter Dekom, and I’m one of those who believe that America’s greatness depends on our willingness to engage in such high-level research that has always produced spectacular results for all of us.