I went to see the space shuttle Atlantis launch on June 8th. The mission, STS-117, is the 118th shuttle flight. The crew is now about 5 days into their 13 day mission. According to NASA.gov, "The crew will install a new truss segment, unfurl new solar arrays and fold up an old one – all tricky stuff that’s been done on the past two missions." While the mission may sound like it's just the same thing that the previous missions were, it's still progress for the space program. I'm just happy to see this progress. Not to long ago, some NASA employees (whom I personally know), said that the space program might have to shut down entirely. However, if things keep going well, and we don't have anymore shuttles light up like roman candles in the sky [(i.e. Columbia and Challenger)haha, sorry for my morbid sense of humor!], the space program should be able to continue as planned. One of the files I attached is of the crew patch. It represents they very thing that makes me proud of the space program and this mission: "the continued construction of the International Space Station (ISS) and our ongoing human presence in space." (nasa.gov) For more information and photos, please visit www.nasa.gov. My aunt, who works on the website, says there will be new content on the site tomorrow, and as the mission progresses. I know I really didn't give you much information about what the astronauts will accomplish on the mission, but I don't want to reapeat the news you've already heard. I mostly wanted to say that I am very happy to see such progress in the space program. It seems not too long ago, that we suffered a horrible tragedy. However, the program has grown back it's wings... and that makes me very happy and proud! I also am excited about the opportunities we have to learn from the continuation of the space program. How do you feel about this mission? How do you feel about the space program in general? What do you think we can learn?
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| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| 179004main_4-2007-06-13_141048.jpg | 15.33 KB |
| STS-117 Crew.jpg | 39.98 KB |
| STS-117 Commander Rick Sturckow.jpg | 26.28 KB |
| The international space station.jpg | 10.96 KB |
| STS-117 Mission Specialist Patrick Forrester.jpg | 15 KB |
| STS-117 Crew Patch.jpg | 17 KB |
My thoughts on the Space Program are that it is a waste of time and money. What can we really learn about space? It costs billions of dollars for one mission and that lasts what? 13 days??? Seems to me that we could use that money better here on Earth (y'know the place that affects our lives). It has been said that we know more about the moon than we do about our oceans. If people want something to explore then they should check out the ocean floor. Why do we have to explore space? We can't live there... I know we can't live in the ocean either, but we use it everyday so it's way more important.
This was the 118th shuttle flight.... and how far into space have we actually explored? We haven't even gotten out of the solar systems yet. I can't even imagine how much money has been spent on all of the 118 flights. From what I have been told... telescopes seem to gather more information about space than any shuttle flight has. I'm not saying that everything about NASA or the space program is bad.... I think satellites are great.
We live on Earth, it's our home. We should learn all we can about it before we try to conquer another place.