Tonight, there was a special treat in the skies- a flyover by the International Space Station. I took an opportunity to watch it hurtle overhead- it appeared as a bright white dot moving at a decent clip from the northwest to the southeast, where, unlike an airplane, it gradually faded from view rather than disappearing over the horizon.
At least, I think I saw the ISS, though it could have been swamp gas. On a serious note, besides a beautiful sight in the night sky, visible even in the suburbs of the earth-bound constellation that is New York City, the ISS is a symbol of the heights humanity can attain at its best- one of the pinnacles of human ingenuity and international cooperation (CERN being another). There is a lot of horrible stuff happening on the surface of the planet, but a simple glance upwards can be sufficient to rekindle hope in our species.
The DJ on the local radio station played David Bowie's Space Oddity at 9:36, the song ending shortly before the station popped into view. Well played, Mr Arrow, well played. I think I'll embed the video for Astronaut Chris Hadfield's version, with its beautiful views of and from the station:
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3 comments:
Very nice sentiment, and it's hard to fault any large scientific endeavor because one never knows what discoveries they will produce.
That said, ISS was a terrible idea, the worst kind of big-science boondoggle. It consumed litterally ALL the funds for space exploration, effectively trapping us in low earth orbit for decades.
Imagine if those same billions had been applied to really exploring the heavens, manned missions to asteroids, return to the moon, more Cassini - level missions.
THAT would have been really interesting...
Sad, though, that our budget for space exploration is far more limited than our budget for blowing up foreigners.
~
That said, ISS was a terrible idea, the worst kind of big-science boondoggle. It consumed litterally ALL the funds for space exploration, effectively trapping us in low earth orbit for decades.
I think it's a necessary step, an opportunity to study the effects of zero-gravity on the human body before the real exploration takes place (if ever).
Sad, though, that our budget for space exploration is far more limited than our budget for blowing up foreigners.
Yeah, the real problem is our addiction to blowing the hell out of people in the developing world.
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