Re: Worth The Mission?
- From: seewebsite@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (John Savard)
- Date: Fri, 30 Jun 2006 05:03:39 GMT
On Thu, 29 Jun 2006 16:14:15 -0400, simberg.interglobal@xxxxxxxxx (Rand
Simberg) wrote, in part:
My thoughts on whether or not to fly Shuttle, and the cult of
astronaut worship:
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MmJmNjg1YWQyN2I3OTUxYTU4ODcyZDUxNjE5MjM1OTE=
Actually, most Americans worship the LORD, who sent His son Jesus to die
on the Cross for our sins.
And it was the LORD Who said unto Moses, "Thou shalt not kill".
People are allowed to take risks. The toil and struggle of everyday life
come with risk. That is known and accepted.
But it is immoral - and therefore *forbidden* by the Word of God - to
subject others to an unreasonable level of risk through one's own
carelessness, negligence, or penury.
It looks like this is what happened, at least to the Challenger
astronauts. There were people who *knew* there was a real safety problem
- but they wilfully chose not to speak out to avoid making an admission
that would embarass their company.
NASA, along with its contractors, has sinned, and must now earn our
trust. The only way to do so is to make it unmistakably clear that they
are conscientiously taking all reasonable efforts against all known
risks. As they did in the Apollo program - *after* the fire that claimed
the lives of three astronauts on the ground.
As long as a known risk is visibly present, and hasn't been fully
counteracted somehow, the assumption will be - thanks to the
circumstances of the Challenger disaster - that the risk is
unreasonable, and there is a reasonable effort available to remove it.
It isn't about astronauts being worth more than coal miners - even
though, as celebrities, they are people who are not faceless, and have
therefore found a place in our hearts, as if we knew them - it's about
trust.
When trust has been earned, and when, if there *are* accidents, it is
clear that they resulted unavoidably from the inherent risks of space
exploration, *then* those accidents will not carry with them the risk of
derailing space exploration.
Taking what might be, rationally, excessive precautions with the lives
of astronauts today is part of *earning* that trust, and, therefore, it
promotes, rather than hinders, the survival of the space program.
John Savard
http://www.quadibloc.com/index.html
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