Lucky for John Glenn and his Discovery crew, they will see the heavens much as it was when the 77-year-old astronaut from Ohio last visited space 36 years ago.
You see, about a decade from now there’ll be more than 1,500 birds in orbit. What then? Traffic signals, stop signs, detours, right-on-red, low-earth-orbit Iridium billboards, space rage and a mad flock of birds on the information skyway?
Perhaps Glenn, were he to witness such gridlock in space, might even be provoked to do something unseemly for an American hero: make an illegal U turn and head back to Earth.
Then again, Glenn-who is retiring from the Senate-knows about gridlock.
But space aesthetics aside (no doubt the National League of Cities, the National Association of Counties, the National Park Service, Sen. Leahy and Sen. Hutchison will weigh in before long with zoning concerns), the emergence of global satellites offers enormous potential for industrialized and developing countries in terms of communications, education, the environment, agriculture, business and democratic reform.
This might not have been possible had it not been for the inspired urging of President Kennedy.
But there’s another side to this. Dare I say it and risk being booed into cosmic oblivion by the Right Stuff crowd?
The same NASA, which was a powerful catalyst for today’s high-tech leadership in the U.S., now is hindering high-tech of tomorrow. Starting with global satellites. Interesting paradox, isn’t it?
There is a view NASA overplayed its hand by over-promoting manned space missions at the expense of commercial space development and space research itself. The theory is the human element in manned space voyages incites public support, which in turn translates into lavish NASA government funding.
But look at who loses on the deal: us, the U.S.
Satellite firms like Iridium, Globalstar, Teledesic and Orbcomm go to China, Russia and the Ukraine to launch satellite-carrying rockets because doing it via the federal government is too costly and time consuming.
Moreover, exporting commercial launch business abroad-never mind the obvious loss of U.S. business-has spurred allegations and investigations of technology transfers.
Sen. John Breaux (D-La.) is expected to reintroduce a bill next year to incent American companies into the commercial space launch business.
Meantime, Godspeed, John Glenn, and, oh, by the way, watch your head.
