[FPSPACE] Kranz: From Giant Leaps to Baby Steps

[DSFPortree at aol.com]

> > From Giant Leaps to Baby Steps
> >
> >By EUGENE F. KRANZ
> >Published: August 3, 2005
> >
> >Houston
> >
> >TO read and listen to the coverage about the space shuttle, 
> you would 
> >think NASA's mission team has taken careless risks with the 
> lives of the 
> >seven astronauts who went into space on the Discovery last 
> Tuesday. During 
> >the launching, foam fell off the external tank. For the 
> risk-averse, the 
> >only acceptable thing to do now is retire the shuttle 
> program immediately 
> >and wait for the divine arrival of the next generation of 
> spacecraft. I am 
> >disgusted at the lack of courage and common sense this 
> attitude shows.
> >
> >All progress involves risk. Risk is essential to fuel the 
> economic engine 
> >of our nation. And risk is essential to renew American's fundamental 
> >spirit of discovery so we remain competitive with the rest 
> of the world.
> >
> >My take on the current mission is very straightforward. The 
> shuttle is in 
> >orbit. To a great extent mission managers have given the 
> spacecraft a 
> >clean bill of health. Let us remember that this is a test flight. I 
> >consider it a remarkably successful test so far.
> >
> >The technical response to the Columbia accident led to a significant 
> >reduction in the amount of debris striking this shuttle 
> during launching. 
> >Mission managers have said that the external tank shed 80 
> percent less 
> >foam this time than on previous launchings. Only in the news media, 
> >apparently, is an 80 percent improvement considered a 
> failure. Rather than 
> >quit, we must now try to reduce even more the amount of foam 
> that comes 
> >off the tank.
> >
> >The instruments and video equipment developed to assess the 
> launching and 
> >monitor debris falling from the tank worked superbly. For 
> the first time, 
> >the mission team knows what is happening, when it is 
> happening and the 
> >flight conditions under which it occurred. This was a major mission 
> >objective, and it is an impressive achievement.
> >
> >Having spent more than three decades working in the space 
> program, I know 
> >that all of the flights of the early days involved some 
> levels of risk. 
> >Some of those risks, in hindsight, seem incomprehensible by 
> today's timid 
> >standards. If we had quit when we had our first difficulties 
> in Project 
> >Mercury, we would have never put John Glenn on the Atlas 
> rocket Friendship 
> >7 in 1961. Two of the previous five Atlas rockets test-fired before 
> >Friendship 7 had exploded on liftoff.
> >
> >On Gemini 9, 10 and 11, all in 1966, we had complications 
> with planned 
> >spacewalks that placed the astronauts at risk. Rather than 
> cancel the 
> >walks, we faced the risks and solved the problems. These set 
> the stage for 
> >Gemini 12 later that year, during which Buzz Aldrin spent 
> more than five 
> >hours outside the capsule and confirmed to NASA that 
> spacewalks could be 
> >considered an operational capability.
> >
> >Eventually, this ability enabled astronauts to retrieve 
> satellites and 
> >repair and maintain the Hubble space telescope; and during 
> the current 
> >mission, spacewalks were used to repair a gyroscope on the 
> International 
> >Space Station and will allow the crew to fix some of the damage that 
> >occurred during the launching. These are the rewards for the 
> risks we took 
> >on those early Gemini flights.
> >
> >I understand the tragedy inherent in risk-taking; I 
> witnessed the fire 
> >aboard Apollo 1 in 1967 that killed three crew members. It 
> filled us with 
> >anger at ourselves and with the resolve to make it right. 
> After the fire 
> >we didn't quit; we redesigned the Apollo command module. 
> During the Apollo 
> >missions that followed, we were never perfect. But we were 
> determined and 
> >competent and that made these missions successful.
> >
> >I see the same combination of anger, resolve and 
> determination in the 
> >space shuttle program today. These people are professionals 
> who understand 
> >risk, how to reduce it and how to make that which remains 
> acceptable. Most 
> >important, the current mission has demonstrated the maturity of the 
> >shuttle team that endured the Columbia disaster and had the guts to 
> >persevere. This is the most important aspect of the recovery 
> from the 
> >Columbia accident, and is a credit to the great team NASA now has in 
> >place, headed by its administrator, Michael Griffin.
> >
> >There are many nations that wish to surpass us in space. 
> Does the "quit 
> >now" crowd really believe that abandoning the shuttle and 
> International 
> >Space Station is the way to keep America the pre-eminent 
> space-faring 
> >nation? Do they really believe that a new spacecraft will 
> come without an 
> >engineering challenge or a human toll? The path the 
> naysayers suggest is 
> >so out of touch with the American character of perseverance, 
> hard work and 
> >discovery that they don't even realize the danger in which they are 
> >putting future astronauts - not to mention our nation.
> >
> >Eugene F. Kranz, author of "Failure Is Not an Option: 
> Mission Control From 
> >Mercury to Apollo 13 and Beyond," is a former Apollo flight director.
> >