A confluence of recent events has prompted me to consider the broader symbolism of human space flight: the 40th anniversary of the Apollo moon landing, the passing of broadcasting icon Walter Cronkite, the recent record-setting STS-127 mission of the Shuttle Endeavour to the International Space Station (13 humans in space at once!) -- and my own recent visit to Kennedy Space Center.
Why do we invest the enormous sums of energy, money, and the tragic loss of human life in this endeavour? For me, the symbolism of human space flight is best summed up as individual sacrifice in pursuit of a greater good, specifically two deeply human impulses: to discover, and to survive.
Many months ago my wife Anastasia and I scheduled a 2-day visit to Kennedy Space Center on July 10 and 11. At the time we had hoped we might be lucky enough to catch the initial test launch of the Ares 1-X; that flight was ultimately delayed until later this year. However, in the meantime, STS-127 was delayed because of mechanical problems from a planned June launch until a launch window that began on the second day of our planned tour, July 11. In the end, that launch day was scrubbed due to concerns over possible lightning damage from a storm that blew in while we toured the space center, and we missed the launch that ultimately occurred on July 15.
However, the day before the planned launch, we took the Cape Canaveral Then & Now tour, which I cannot recommend more highly. This tour actually takes you off the Kennedy Space Center and onto the original home of America’s manned space program, the neighboring Cape Canaveral Air Force station. In particular, we visited several sites that brought home to me the human element of our space program.
The first site we visited on the tour was the launch pad and block house for the first two American manned space launches in 1961, Alan Shepard’s Freedom 7 and Gus Grissom’s Liberty Bell 7 missions. The block house in particular has been preserved much as it appeared during those historic launches. (Separate from the tour, at the Kennedy Space Center’s visitor complex you can view a recreation, using the original equipment, of the Mercury flight control center – talk about history! I felt like I was on the movie set of The Right Stuff.) On the outside of the block house, pictured below, is a photo of Alan Shepard’s face on the day of his historic flight on May 5, 1961. In his eyes are reflected what must have been a curious mixture of courage, anticipation and even fear ahead of his fearless act.
The most moving part of the tour, however, is a visit to the ruins of Cape Canaveral’s Launch Complex 34, which was used for numerous Saturn 1 and Saturn 1B launches from 1961 to 1968. It was from this complex that the first manned Apollo flight, the 11-day Earth-orbital Apollo 7 mission, which launched on October 11, 1968.
Launch Complex 34’s lasting emotional impact, however, stems from an earlier Apollo mission, the tragic launch pad fire of Apollo 1 that claimed the lives of astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee on January 27, 1967. Rising from the Cape like a modern Stonehenge, the remains of LC 34 retain a haunting, lonely quality that drives home horror and sadness of that day. Stenciled on one of the nearby concrete pillars is a sign that reads only “Abandon in place.” Three inscribed granite benches memorialize the lost astronauts, as do two plaques, one inscribed with Latin: Ad Astra Per Aspera (A Rough Road Leads to the Stars.)
Ad astra per aspera. The plaque memorizes three astronauts “who made the ultimate sacrifice so others could reach for the stars.” Over at the Kennedy Space Center’s Visitor Complex, the Space Mirror Memorial is dedicated to the memories of these three Apollo 1 heroes as well as to 21 other American men and women who have died while pursuing their duties in the American space program, including the crews of the Challenger and Columbia disasters. Eight cosmonauts have died in the former Soviet and now Russian space program, including the first human to fly in space, Yuri Gagarin, who died in a 1968 crash of a training flight.
Shortly before the Apollo 1 fire, Grissom said: "If we die, we want people to accept it. We are in a risky business . . . conquest of Space is worth the risk of life."
A rough road leads to the stars.
What is the meaning for you of the sacrifices made by these men and women, these brave pioneers?
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