Page 4 - Aerotech News and Review, April 16, 2021

Weighing in on Space Shuttle legacy

Early Years, worked as a contractor at NASA’s Marshall Space beginning, having met many astronauts and cosmonauts. Collabo-
by Larry Grooms
special to Aerotech News Flight Center beginning in 2002. He currently supports the center’s rating with John Youskauskas, Mel is working on another addition
Human Exploration Development and Operations office, respon- to the Outward Odyssey book series, chronicling the story of ex-
Marking the 40th anniversary of the first space shuttle orbital sible for human spaceflight efforts ranging from science operations travehicular activity.
launch and landing, the Los Angeles–Las Vegas Section of the on the International Space Station to development of future space Francis French brings international experience in relating science,
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics convened an habitats. engineering, music, astronomy, art, and wildlife to general audi-
online panel of authors and editors to offer their evaluations on the Relating though an exclusive photographic display, characterized ences through classes, workshops, public speaking, and television
Space Shuttle era. as a Personal Journey, aerospace writer, photographer and com- and documentary productions. He is the author of bestselling his-
The panelists, contributing authors or editors for the University of munications specialist Michelle Evans, founder and president of tory books, including, In the Shadow of the Moon for the Outward
Mach 25 Media, led off the dialogue with detailed presentation on
Nebraska’s Outward Odyssey books series, offered widely ranging her book, The X-15 Rocket Plane, Flying the First Wings into Space. Odyssey series.
and often divergent thoughts, memories and observations on the Lifelong space enthusiast Geoffrey Bowman, a retired lawyer Chris Gainor, who holds a PhD in the history of technology and
promise and performance of the Space Shuttle program. living in Belfast, Northern Ireland, remembers the flights of Yuri specializes in writing about space exploration, is president of the
Moderator David Hitt, co-author of two books, Homesteading Gagarin and Alan Shepard, and has fond and vivid memories of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. His sixth book, Not Yet
Imagined: A Study of Hubble Space Telescope Operations, was pub-
Space: The Skylab Story, and Bold They Rise: The Space Shuttle Apollo missions. He saw the Saturn rocket launch of Apollo-Soyuz lished by the NASA History Program Office. His book To A Distant
in July 1975. Having contributed two chapters to Outward Odys- Day: The Rocket Pioneers, was published in 2008.
sey’s Footprints in the Dust, Bowman has submitted the manuscript Jay Gallentine , author of two books, Ambassadors From Earth
for a biography of Apollo 17 astronaut Ron Evans. With the working and Infinity Beckoned: Adventuring Through the Inner Solar Sys-
title: A Long Voyage to the Moon, the book is due to be published tem, focuses his space research on unmanned lunar and planetary
later this year. programs of the United State and former Soviet Union.
Colin Burgess wrote more than 30 books on human space ex-
ploration, with titles including: Selecting the Mercury Seven – The Disagreements on mission values
Search for America’s First Astronauts; Teacher in Space – Christa With the scheduled two-hour Zoom conference clock counting
McAuliffe and the Challenger Legacy; Fallen Astronaut, and most down to overtime, the talk turned from anecdotes and nostalgia to
recently, Shattered Dreams. Residing in Sydney, Australia, Burgess introspection about how some past hard choices and missteps in
mentors new spaceflight authors, guiding them through the publica- space exploration could influence future success or failure.
tion process. On one level there was the thought expressed by Gallentine that
Jay Chladek is a spaceflight historian and a regular contributor to national government’s over-promised and under-delivered ambi-
the online forum collectSPACE. In his Outward Odyssey volume tions for the orbital Space Shuttle capabilities ultimately redirected
Outposts on the Frontier, Chladek documents the historical tapestry resources for robotic systems to explore the universe.
of the people, the early attempts at space station programs, and how Historian Gainor agreed a lot was achieved in the era of the
astronauts and engineers contributed to and shaped the International space shuttle, but he points out a series of flaws brought about in
Space Station.
It might be said that Melvin Croft brought to the panel a perspec- the 1970s by lots of compromises “to save a few bucks.” Gainor
NASA photograph tive of someone who bridges the gap between the soil and space. also said he believes the totality of what was achieved by the shuttle
Astronauts John W. Young, left, commander, and Robert L. With 40 years of experience as a professional geologist, working in program has never been properly appreciated. Evans said the tech-
Crippen, pilot, manned Space Shuttle Columbia on the first shuttle nical contributions by X-15 test pilot and astronaut Joe Engle and
mission, STS-1. industry for 27 years and teaching geology in college for a dozen
more, Croft has made human space flight his avocation since the See SHUTTLE, Page 6

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