“America will take the Giant Leap to Mars.” That’s the title of President Barack Obama’s special guest editorial on CNN this week. In his piece, the president said there are now more than 1,000 companies in the U.S. involved in the business of outer space. Getting humans to Mars, he said, will take cooperation between the private sector and the government.
.. But whoever is building the equipment for the next mission, Caceres said getting to Mars is going to cost trillions — a number that doesn’t trip off the budgetary tongue. That’s why, he said, when it comes to discussing planning for the trip, it’s always in future.
Boeing CEO Vows to Beat Musk to Mars
Video: Do you believe we need to go to Mars?
It’s exploration. Great civilizations explore.
.. Lockheed’s Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2 is being designed to zip through the sky at Mach 20 (about 13,000 miles per hour), flying between New York and Los Angeles in 12 minutes. Boeing’s X-51A WaveRider, which relied on its own shock waves for compression lift, reached Mach 5.1 in 2013.
Jeff Bezos’s New Rocket, Built to Carry Payloads and People
The founder of spaceflight company Blue Origin announced Monday the design of an orbital rocket called New Glenn.
.. So Blue Origin’s very first orbital rocket will have slightly more than half the thrust of the rockets that carried humans to the Moon.
Your Letters Helped Challenger Shuttle Engineer Shed 30 Years Of Guilt
“You presented the correct data and blew the whistle,” another listener wrote. “You are not a loser. You are a challenger.”
Again, Ebeling wasn’t moved. So I asked him if there’s something more he wanted to hear.
“You aren’t NASA. You aren’t Thiokol,” he said. “I hadn’t heard any of those people.”
Kathy noted that neither Thiokol nor NASA had contacted her dad since deep depression prompted his retirement shortly after the Challenger disaster.
“He’s never gotten confirmation that he did do his job and he was a good worker and he told the truth,” Kathy said.
.. But some retired participants in that decision are still alive, including 78-year-old Allan McDonald, who was Ebeling’s boss at the time and a leader of the effort to postpone the launch. He called Ebeling right away.
.. “You and your colleagues did everything that was expected of you,” Hardy wrote. “The decision was a collective decision made by several NASA and Thiokol individuals. You should not torture yourself with any assumed blame.”
Hardy closed with a promise to pray for Ebeling’s physical and emotional health. “God bless you,” he wrote.
The note from Hardy and the phone call from McDonald seemed to be a turning point. It was two weeks now after the Challenger story, and Kathy had been reading letter after letter every day. Sitting in his big easy chair in his living room, Ebeling’s eyes and mood seemed brighter.
.. “I know that is the truth that my burden has been reduced,” he said. “I can’t say it’s totally gone, but I can certainly say it’s reduced.”