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The Green Hills of Earth

Let the sweet fresh breezes heal me
As they rove around the girth
Of our lovely mother planet
Of the cool, green hills of Earth.

We rot in the moulds of Venus,
We retch at her tainted breath.
Foul are her flooded jungles,
Crawling with unclean death.

[ --- the harsh bright soil of Luna ---
--- Saturn's rainbow rings ---
--- the frozen night of Titan --- ]

We've tried each spinning space mote
And reckoned its true worth:
Take us back again to the homes of men
On the cool, green hills of Earth.

The arching sky is calling
Spacemen back to their trade.
ALL HANDS! STAND BY! FREE FALLING!
And the lights below us fade.

Out ride the sons of Terra,
Far drives the thundering jet,
Up leaps a race of Earthmen,
Out, far, and onward yet ---

We pray for one last landing
On the globe that gave us birth;
Let us rest our eyes on the friendly skies
And the cool, green hills of Earth.

-- Robert A. Heinlein

posted by Jerry Bowles 8:11 AM

The Early Warning

It's only 15 hours or so since Columbia went down but already it is becoming clear that NASA, and the Bush Administration, knew--or should have known--the space program was flirting with disaster. Consider this warning from U.S. Representative Bill Nelson (D-Florida), published in Florida Today and posted at Space.com on July 31. 2001:

ORLANDO - Continued money problems and an inattentive White House are setting up NASA to fail, U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson said Monday at the second Florida Space Summit.

"You just can't continue to starve the American space agency of funds (without jeopardizing safety)," Nelson, D-Tallahassee, said, laying the blame at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. "I am very frustrated with the White House budget proposal on NASA."

Nelson added:

Another major accident would cause a real threat to the manned space program," Nelson said. He said political support for NASA could evaporate if a Challenger-type disaster occurs. Nelson flew on shuttle Columbia in 1986 on the mission prior to the Challenger accident.

But U.S. Rep. Dave Weldon, R-Palm Bay, said Nelson's position smacks of partisan politics.

And, yes, InstaPunjab, I know Clinton cut NASA's budget seven of his eight years. But, like 9/11, this disaster happened on the Bush watch and you guys can't keep on blaming Slick Willy forever.

Consider this: An engineer named Don Nelson (presumably not related to Bill), who served with NASA for 36 years until he retired in 1999, wrote to President George W. Bush last summer warning that his 'intervention' was necessary to 'prevent another catastrophic space shuttle accident'. During his last 11 years at NASA, Nelson served as a mission operations evaluator for proposed advanced space transportation projects. He tells The Observor:

'I became concerned about safety issues in NASA after Challenger. I think what happened is that very slowly over the years Nasa's culture of safety became eroded.

'But when I tried to raise my concerns with NASA's new administrator, I received two reprimands for not going through the proper channels, which discouraged other people from coming forward with their concerns. When it came to an argument between a middle-ranking engineer and the astronauts and administration, guess who won.

posted by Jerry Bowles 12:20 AM