By: Mike Mikula

Hail Columbia.  Many people are asking “what for?”  I’m asking “what next?”    Our country has been through a lot the past the past eighteen months, unprecedented unless you’re a member of Tom Brokaw’s “Greatest Generation.”   My grandmother used to say that God would never give you more than you can handle.  I think even she would admit that we’re approaching critical mass.

But things were a little different this time around.   For my generation, the Challenger explosion was our defining “where were you when…” moment.  For example, I was in a dormitory lounge, having ditched a philosophy class to recover from the flu, possibly the Irish flu.  I remained there the rest of the day, monitoring events, repeatedly viewing the unreal footage of the doomed launch.    It was the biggest story of my life and I’m sure all but the oldest reporters covering it thought so too.

This was not so for the Columbia, for some very obvious reasons.  Watching three thousand perish in an instant on a clear September morning raised our threshold for shock.   This is not to say we aren’t saddened by the loss of these brave astronauts.      The wives, husbands, and children they leave behind are reminders of what bravery and sacrifice mean.  There have been too many survivors to remind us of that lately.     There are too many empty seats at too many families’ tables.  Too many firemen and police officers.  And too many soldiers and sailors killed by battle, accident, or assassination.

The other reason that Columbia didn’t shock so much as sadden is because of Challenger.  We know that this can happen.  We saw before our eyes how risky space flight can be.   How many of us would really volunteer to spend five years preparing to sit on top of a bomb to be blown into the vast, unforgiving void of space?  Then, providing all that goes well, return to earth in a three thousand-degree ball of fire shooting home at twenty times the speed of sound?  It is nothing short of a miracle that we’ve only lost seventeen astronauts in space flight.  That these seven souls were the first lost to the terror of re-entry in something like 160 attempts amazes me.   It’s even more remarkable when you think of Alan Shepard’s thought as he sat in his Mercury capsule, preparing to become the first American in space, that every part of his rocket had been built by the lowest bidder.

So now NASA’s directors, who seem to be doing less covering of their posteriors this time around, are in for at least a year’s worth of grilling.   Some will say that manned space flight is too risky, that the rewards too intangible.  And that the whole thing is too damn expensive.  Others will say that the way to honor the memory of the astronauts is to make the shuttle safer, better, and more economical. 

First things first.  The space shuttle program isn’t going anywhere.  Most of the shuttle is built in California and most of Congress is from California, so that takes care of that.  Still, now is the opportunity to energize the space program because let’s face it, we’re stuck in neutral.  The shuttle is pretty cool and it looks like the space planes of science fiction, but its basic technology  is thirty years old and let’s face it, its missions are pretty boring.   Mostly it ferries gear to the space station like a UPS truck or conducts “science experiments”.  Now I know they say these experiments have practical applications on earth, but I must be missing the press releases.  I’ve yet to see a report on the news like, “The Shuttle Atlantis returned to earth today with a cure for prostate cancer and athlete’s foot.”  Maybe they just need a little more time. 

We need to be inspired by space, otherwise it’s just a lot of math.  In 1961, President Kennedy challenged NASA to put a man on the moon in ten years.  And then we did it.  The whole country was emotionally invested in the missions that built up to that.  It was a tangible goal and we just went and did it.  We need to do that again.  Let’s set out to put a man on Mars.  It might take decades, and it might kill astronauts, but imagine the glory.  And think of all the problems that have to be overcome to travel those millions of miles.  You don’t think those solutions would have practical applications on Earth?  Our best and brightest have long been attracted to the space program.  Now is the time to unleash their full potential.

Meanwhile could you possibly imagine a more stressful time to have a recovering alcoholic in the White House?  God forbid the weight machine is busted the next time there’s a tragedy.  Is there a provision in the 22^nd Amendment if the President goes on a two-week bender?  That’s what I’d do.

Mikula is an editorial cartoonist for Roll Call and the Atlanta Business Chronicle.  He is also a member of MAD Magazine's "Usual Gang of Idiots"   He may or may not be reached at mambro@bellsouth.net
 

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