Over the course of the last 50 years or so we have witnessed some amazing achievements in space exploration. The recent fly-by of Pluto by the New Horizons spacecraft is a remarkable accomplishment and one that we probably take for granted. According to the NASA website, “New Horizons’ almost 10-year, three-billion-mile journey to closest approach at Pluto took about one minute less than predicted when the craft was launched in January 2006. The spacecraft threaded the needle through a 36-by-57 mile (60 by 90 kilometers) window in space — the equivalent of a commercial airliner arriving no more off target than the width of a tennis ball.
Because New Horizons is the fastest spacecraft ever launched – hurtling through the Pluto system at more than 30,000 mph, a collision with a particle as small as a grain of rice could incapacitate the spacecraft. Once it reestablishes contact Tuesday night, it will take 16 months for New Horizons to send its cache of data – 10 years’ worth — back to Earth.”
I mean, wow!!
When NASA was first launching men into space in the 60s I was riveted. I remember my parents waking me up at 5 or 6 in the morning to watch the live launch on TV of what was then the Gemini missions. We’d also watch their subsequent return to earth as they splashed down in the ocean. Then there were the Apollo missions and of course the Neil Armstrong step for man and his giant leap for mankind. I was glued to the set that day. But once Neil and Buzz made history when the Eagle landed the public fascination faded with each subsequent mission. Another 10 men walked on the moon but I’m guessing most of us would have difficulty naming them. It doesn’t diminish what they were able to do. They WENT TO THE FRICKIN MOON!! And they came back. (Ok, for some conspiracy theorists…they allegedly went to the moon.)
We’ve become very nonchalant about pretty much everything that is a technological marvel. (I include myself in that category.) From flying across the ocean to being able to call someone on a cell phone who’s on Mount Kilimanjaro we’ve lost the sense of awe that we can actually do those things.
So I think we have to take a moment to sit back and think about what has just happened in our lifetime. We (and by we I mean other very smart people) have managed to send a spacecraft to a dwarf planet that’s 3 billion miles away and taken a picture of it. I think of all the times someone has tried to take a picture here on earth and said, “Where’s the button?” The New Horizon is much smarter than that. It found a planet that was 3 billion miles away. I’ve gotten lost trying to find a house that was only 10 blocks away. (There may have been alcohol involved.)
I really am blown away by what NASA was able to carry out and I don’t think I have the proper words to express my amazement other than say, well done. And when all the pictures come back I hope Pluto didn’t have a goofy smile on its face or got photo-bombed by a prankster alien.
Mark Boogieman 