Many Americans have questioned repeatedly the usefulness of the International Space Station, but it stands as NASA‘s only gateway at the moment to the rest of the solar system.Without the station — or something comparable — it will be difficult if not impossible for U.S. engineers and scientists to do the research necessary to make interplanetary travel possible.
The debate over the station’s relevance has hovered over its history
from the very beginning, with many calling it a white elephant, sucking
up funding that could be better used elsewhere.
Even as recently as Feb. 17 — three weeks ago — Rep.Vernon Ehlers,
R-Mich.,, questioned its value during hearings on NASA‘s budget before
the House Science Committee.”I have yet to see any good description of
any important, meaningful, scientific research that we’re planning to
do (on the station),” Ehlers said in his opening remarks.
What critics may not realize, however, is the human exploration of the
solar system — as proposed by President Bush in a speech Jan.14, 2004,
on his ambitious new space initiative — cannot embark without the
extensive long-term engineering and medical research that can only be
conducted in low-Earth orbit.The only vehicle available for such
activity at the moment is the space station.
As Wernher von Braun wrote in 1954, “No expedition (to the moon or
planets) can be made until after at least a temporary manned space
station has been put together in an orbit around the Earth, for the
space station is, in a manner of speaking, the springboard for longer
trips.”
Or, to put it another way, you cannot learn the consequences of
spending several years in space until you have spent several years in
space.Before the first pioneers can board a spaceborne fleet heading
out across the vast black ocean between the planets, their precursors
must spent decades in low-Earth orbit, with the blue-white glittering
home planet never more than a few hundred miles away.
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