As originally published in MIT’s Technology Review January/February 2009
“Technology Review has set out to compile the first oral history of space tourism. We asked each of the five travelers who came after Tito to describe the trip. They gave hours of their time, sitting separately for multiple interviews over a six-month period. Most have never met, but they all told essentially the same story of blastoff, weightlessness, reëntry, and revelation. We’ve distilled, edited, and organized their words to create a composite story of what a space vacation is really like.”
Click here for the full and compelling story in text and in the sounds of the participants’ own voices.
head shot (space)
Dr. Charles Simonyi made his second trip to the International Space Station yesterday. He is the first repeat customer for a paid trip to space. He was an early employee at Microsoft Corp and developed Word and Excel.
Follow Charles’ journey and efforts in space here and check out some great photos taken by his back-up Esther Dyson here
Dr. Stephen Hawking, hero to inner and outer geeks in and out of academia spoke to the masses to tell us ‘ why we must go to space.’
The most famous living physicist alive spends one month a year at Cal Tech in Pasadena and on March 9 the renowned professor who holds the Lucasian Professorship at Cambridge University, the professorship once held by Sir Isaac Newton, (Cal Tech website) and is the Sherman Fairchild Distinguished Scholar at Caltech gave a general lecture to the public at the brand new Pasadena Convention Center to a sold out crowd of 5,000 people.
After some introductions, Dr. Hawking was literally rolled out in Rock Start style from the back of the hall right through the crowds with the Richard Strauss’ Also Sprach Zarathustra (2001 theme music) playing over the PA system. For a moment, I almost thought that the hyper-educated crowd who were all letting their inner and outer geekness shine, were going to pull out their IPhones and other gizmos in place of the ritual tradition of lighters.
After a brief technical issue, the familiar robotic voice pierced the hall with “Can you hear me?”
He started the presentation with Christopher Columbus and even joked that we would probably not have Big Macs and KFC with out his discovery of the New World.
A few highlights:
- Humanity needs a long term strategy that plans in increments of hundreds of years.
- An increase in NASA’s budget (as a percentage of U.S.A.’s GDP) could restore enthusiasm for space and sciences.
- We could have a moon base by 2020 and a Mars landing by human explorers by 2025.
- Alpha Centauri will never become a holiday destination.
- -There was a demonstration of the physics joke: Buttered Bread on the back of a cat; Which falls first?
My friend asked me after the lecture succinctly if I felt that “Hawking accomplished his objective, as per (the) lecture title?”
Dr. Hawking was preaching to the choir. If I took a poll last asking the audience ‘why we should go into space,’ I would guess that there would be a variety of answers that would demonstrate a clear understanding of some of the issues he discussed. Then again, if he gave a more specific lecture on Black Holes, his audience may or may not have been diminished in size. Dr. Hawking probably could have talked about anything and it still would be fascinating.
Do I think he accomplished his objectivity? Partially.
He implied but did not mention the Earth’s demise when our sun becomes a Red Giant. He did not mention nuclear conflict caused by our own ‘hands.’ What about that comet that came with in 40K miles of earth (millimeters in cosmic terms)?
I guess that with his limited time and physical constraints, he generally focuses on specific thinking (i.e. Black Holes) or speaking to a mass public. I sensed a longing from him for a time when more scientists and not just superstars like Hawking are given more respect. He stated that he was interested in seeing future generations having the desire to go into the sciences. His general lectures might be able to do that without alienating the space-enthusiast like ourselves.
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I was walking on Colorado Ave in Pasadena on Saturday and noticed this AIAA plaque*. On it, there’s a mention of Dr. Theodore von Kármán, whom the Kármán Line was named after. This line is the official boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and space (62 Miles above sea-level).
I think it’s interesting to note that the building is now home to a Bentley and Rolls Royce dealer. Will Bentley or another major manufacturer be involved with New Space in our lifetime?
Mainstreaming space
* Plaque text
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Historic Aerospace Site
Aerojet Engineering Corporation
First Plant
On this site in 1942,the Aerojet Engineering Company founded the first manufacturing facility for the production of rocket propulsion systems. This was done under the leadership of Aerojet’s first President, Dr. Theodore von Kármán,world-renowned scientist and engineer from the California Institute of Technology. The plant remained here until 1945.
2000
Photos by Helen Lau
Rob Coppinger interview with Will Whitehorn. The audio quality ain’t great, but it’s nice to hear Whitehorn at some unedited length discuss the future of VG.