Since
the Space Shuttle was decommissioned in 2011 the United States has not had
manned space flight capabilities. If we want to send an astronaut to the
International Space Station that we helped pay for, we have to hitch a ride
with the Russians. Maybe it is not so bad we just elected Putin’s bestie as the
45th president. You might think this would be an issue the candidates
for the highest office in the land would have addressed, but they were
obviously not so inclined. Many scientists and former astronauts try to start that
conversation now in Paul Hildebrandt’s Fight
for Space (trailer
here),
which screens during DOC NYC 2016.
The
Apollo 11 Moon landing was one of the greatest moments in human history. Hildebrandt
and his impressive cast of interviewees briefly review the concerted effort
that got us there and review some of the remarkable resulting spin-off
technologies (GPS, for instance). However, they slow down to chronicle, step by
step, the budget cuts, political shifts in priorities, and painful tragedies
that now have NASA mired in confusion and self-doubt. It is a sad, but
fascinating story.
There
are some eye-opening contentions in Fight,
including the argument NASA should have maintained and updated the Apollo-era Saturn
5 rockets rather than developing the Shuttle (which most observers now admit
was a flawed concept). It turns out that is exactly what the Russians did with
their Soyuz rockets. Evidently, there were also credible proposals floated at
NASA to get a crew to Mars with existing technology without busting the budget,
but unfortunately subsequent agency administrators opted to reinvent a bigger,
louder, dumber Saturn program.
Watching
Fight for Space is like one long
face-palm. We have gone from first to worst within a generation. NASA takes a
lot of flak during the film, but most presidential administrations look even
worse. George W. Bush is nearly an exception. He had the vision thing, but his
second appointed NASA Administrator receives particularly low marks.
Hildebrandt
assembled an impressive battery of experts to pass such judgements, including
former astronaut Jim Lovell, flight director Gene Kranz, space historian Jim
Logsdon, physicist Michio Kaku, and astronomer Neil DeGrasse Tyson. TV celebrity
Bill Nye also makes a few appearances, but his soundbites aren’t very
insightful. However, nobody can hold a candle to the garrulous wit and conviction
of Story Musgrave, the only astronaut who served on all five space shuttles.
