Mission to Mars Read online

  Work is ongoing in the private sector to build suborbital and orbital craft capable of flying cargo and/or passengers into space. Several spaceship designs and commercial firms that I’m keeping an eye on include the following:

  • Armadillo Aerospace is a developer of reusable rocket-powered vehicles. The company is focused on vertical-takeoff, vertical-landing suborbital research and passenger flights, with an eye toward eventual paths to orbit. It has an impressive track record of several hundred flight tests spread over two dozen different vehicles. This space startup is demonstrating a number of technologies it plans to incorporate into a crewed suborbital reusable launch vehicle.

  • Blue Origin, backed by Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com fame and fortune, is developing the New Shepard system, a rocket-propelled vehicle designed to routinely fly multiple astronauts into suborbital space at competitive prices. The New Shepard system can provide frequent opportunities for researchers to fly experiments into space and a microgravity environment. Flights will take place from Blue Origin’s own launch site, which is already operating in West Texas.

  New Shepard, a private suborbital spacecraft design by Blue Origin

  (Illustration Credit 3.7)

  • Boeing is developing a commercial crew vehicle, the CST-100, which can be launched on a variety of launch vehicles. The Boeing system will provide crewed flights to the International Space Station and also support the Bigelow Aerospace orbital space complex. The CST-100 is a reusable capsule-shaped spacecraft based on flight-proven subsystems and mature technologies. The system can transport up to seven people, or a combination of people and cargo.

  • Masten Space Systems designs, builds, tests, and operates reusable launch vehicles. The entrepreneurial firm sees quick turnaround times for reusable launch vehicles, there by spurring an increase in flight rate—a way to drive down the cost of space access—and permitting more people to reach space. The company is developing fully reusable vertical takeoff, vertical landing launch vehicles; technology and concept demonstration; technology acceleration; and engineering services.

  • Orbital Sciences, formed in 1982, is manifested to conduct resupply missions to the International Space Station (ISS) using its new Antares launch vehicle from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility at Wallops Island, Virginia. The company is teamed with NASA to offer commercial orbital transportation and resupply services. Orbital is offering the Cygnus advanced maneuvering spacecraft and a module to deliver pressurized cargo to the International Space Station. Under NASA contract, Orbital will conduct eight cargo missions beginning in 2013 to complement Russian, European, and Japanese ISS cargo vehicles.

  (Illustration Credit 3.8)

  Boeing’s CST-100 crew-carrying commercial capsule

  (Illustration Credit 3.9)

  Orbital Sciences’ Cygnus cargo craft approaching the International Space Station

  (Illustration Credit 3.10)

  • Sierra Nevada is advancing the development of a commercial crew space transportation system. The Dream Chaser is based on NASA’s HL-20 lifting body design and would be launched on the Atlas V launch vehicle into Earth orbit. The Dream Chaser’s lifting body shape offers increased cross range and lower g-forces on entry than a capsule design, providing more landing opportunities and a more benign entry environment for crew and science experiment return.

  • XCOR Aerospace rocketeers build reusable rocket-powered vehicles, propulsion systems, advanced nonflammable composites, and rocket piston pumps. XCOR is building the Lynx, a piloted, two-seat, fully reusable liquid rocket–powered suborbital vehicle that takes off and lands horizontally. The Lynx family of vehicles is geared toward research and scientific missions, private spaceflight, and microsatellite launch. An objective of the group is to fly Lynx commercial vehicles to 100-plus kilometers in altitude up to four times per day.

  Global Space Economy

  When you look at the global space economy, a striking dollar number stems from a yearly read of the Space Foundation’s appraisal of the situation. The nonprofit Space Foundation of Colorado Springs, Colorado, is a leading advocate group for all sectors of the space industry and hosts the annual National Space Symposium—a heady gathering of professionals from all sectors of space, which I regularly attend.

  In its Space Report 2012: The Authoritative Guide to Global Space Activity, the Space Foundation flags the growth in the around-the-world space economy to nearly $290 billion in 2011. That tally reflects a surprisingly robust single-year expansion of 12.2 percent and five-year growth of 41 percent in a global economy that has been suppressed in many other sectors. That grand total comprises worldwide commercial revenues and government budgets, compiled from original research and a wide variety of public and private sources and analyzed by Space Foundation researchers. The 12.2 percent increase is calculated on a 2010 total of $258.21 billion.

  Suborbital Lynx vehicle design by XCOR Aerospace

  (Illustration Credit 3.11)

  According to The Space Report 2012, overall governmental space spending grew by 6 percent globally, although changes varied significantly from country to country. India, Russia, and Brazil each increased government space spending by more than 20 percent. Other nations—including the United States and Japan—saw very little change from previous years.

  On issuing the report during the 28th National Space Symposium, Space Foundation Chief Executive Officer Elliot Pulham explained that space is good business, “with vast social and economic benefit.” But he went on to add: “Sadly, these data reflect a continuation of the trend that sees the U.S. losing ground compared to other spacefaring nations, including both established and emerging space powers.”

  Here are a few facts and analyses from The Space Report 2012 worth paying attention to, much of the information good news, but some of it troubling:

  • In 2011 there were 84 launches, 14 percent more than the previous year; Russia led with 31, China had 19, and the United States had 18, marking the first time that Chinese launches exceeded those of the United States. The United States led in launch vehicle diversity, with eight types of orbital rockets launched throughout the year.

  • At the end of 2011 there were an estimated 994 active satellites in orbit around Earth.

  • The U.S. space workforce declined for the fourth year in a row, dropping 3 percent from 259,996 in 2009 to 252,315 in 2010 (the most recent year for which data is available); this was the second lowest employment level recorded during the previous ten years.

  • Average annual space industry salaries were 15 percent more than the average salary for the ten science, technology, engineering, and mathematics careers that employ the largest number of people in the United States; in 2010 the average space industry salary was $96,706, more than double the average U.S. private-sector salary; the states with the highest salaries were Colorado, Maryland, Massachusetts, California, and Virginia.

  • More than 70 percent of the NASA workforce is between 40 and 60 years old, with less than 12 percent under age 35, compared to the overall U.S. workforce, where less than 45 percent is between 40 and 60.

  • Thirty-four percent of U.S. fourth graders and 30 percent of eighth graders performed at or above the proficient level in science in 2009; 40 percent of fourth graders and 35 percent of eighth graders scored at proficient or higher levels in math in 2011, an improvement over past years.

  Changes in Trajectory

  Quite a few trends were reported in The Space Report 2012, developments likely to affect space activity for years to come. They include changes in the trajectory of human spaceflight; national budget austerity that leads to programmatic uncertainty; increasingly prevalent and diverse partnership models; and the maturing relationship between government and commercial space.

  This last trend couldn’t be more epitomized than by a milestone reached last year. For the first time, an American private spacecraft was launched and then was docked at the International Space Station. That historic berthing of the automated SpaceX
Dragon supply ship was followed by a successful splashdown of the capsule in the Pacific Ocean. It was a powerful message about innovation and private commerce in space and exemplified the clout of NASA-funded U.S. competition to help plug up the country’s loss of capacity now missing in action with the retirement of the space shuttle.

  The occasion did not go unnoticed by the White House, and they requested my comments. I was glad to oblige, writing:

  This week’s successful launch and delivery of logistics supplies to the International Space Station by a U.S. commercial space company, reminds us that where the entrepreneurial interests of the private sector are aligned with NASA’s mission to explore, America wins. Falcon 9’s maiden flight to ISS—and the other commercial space launches that lie ahead—represent the dawn of a new era in space exploration. Nearly 43 years after we first walked on the moon, we have taken another step in demonstrating continued American leadership in space.

  Joining me with additional thoughts were leaders in the space community, such as my longtime friend Norm Augustine, retired chairman and CEO of Lockheed Martin. “Successes in commercial space transportation are not only important in their own right,” wrote Augustine, “they also free NASA to do that which it does best … namely, push the very frontiers of space and knowledge.”

  Likewise, Bill Nye, CEO of the Planetary Society, drew attention to the event, calling it a huge step and a milestone that enables cheaper, more reliable access to space. “Investments like this, where the private sector and government work together on technical challenges, strengthens our economy by making advanced technology and innovation part of our culture,” Nye said. “With the success of commercial partnerships like this, NASA will have the resources to reach farther and deeper into the cosmos so that we may all further know and appreciate our place in space.”

  SpaceX Dragon cargo craft reaches the International Space Station, October 2012.

  (Illustration Credit 3.12)

  My Apollo program colleague astronaut Rusty Schweickart helped round out the fanfare, calling the arrival and docking of the Dragon space capsule at the ISS more than historic. “It is, in fact, the beginning of a new era in space exploration, one in which private industry and individual initiative will begin leading the way in the use of near-space activity,” said Schweickart, echoing my beliefs. “This is not only exciting and momentous, but is fully in keeping with the American character of risk taking and consequent reward. The long-term results of this ‘first’ are beyond our ability to see at the beginning of this era, but there is no doubt that it will serve as a huge incentive for young people who now have firm evidence of the value, and opportunity for individual initiative,” he added. “Near-Earth space is now firmly a regular part of the human environment along with the air, water, and land. The future is now, once again, opened to imagination, creativity, and dreams!”

  I applaud all these comments and see the achievement by commercial rocketeer Elon Musk and his SpaceX team as a first step. Others will follow, cultivating new capabilities that drive down costs and further secure a private-sector toehold in low Earth orbit.

  Buzz Aldrin salutes the flag at Tranquillity Base: his proudest moment.

  (Illustration Credit 3.13)

  CHAPTER FOUR

  DREAMS OF MY MOON

  People often ask me to recount my Apollo 11 moonwalking experiences, my reminiscences of being on the moon. When I reflect on that magical, transformative moment in my life, several things jump out at me.

  One thing to keep in mind: President Kennedy said send a man to the moon and bring him back safely—a man. We could have satisfied that goal by having a person land on the lunar surface, look out the window, maybe deploy a robot, but not open the hatch to the environment. Instead, we chose to have two astronauts moonwalk because of the buddy system.

  Thanks to that decision, Neil Armstrong and I stood on the shores of an inhospitable, desolate yet magnificent landscape. Looking at Earth from that perspective, everything I knew and loved lay suspended overhead, residing on a small, fragile, bright blue sphere engulfed by the blackness of space.

  What I didn’t anticipate until my return to Earth is that America’s success in achieving the first landing of humans on the moon was viewed as a success for all humankind. Now that’s a buddy system! People from every part of the world took pride in collectively declaring, “We did it.” Second, in undertaking the Apollo 11 mission, there was a rediscovery of our own precious planet Earth. It’s a very special cradle of life that we all reside on.

  My stay on the moon is filled with countless other recollections as well.

  Once I set foot on the moon, I checked my balance and peed in my space suit’s urine collector. I took note that each time I put my foot down there was a spray of dust. And when that dust hit the ground it changed in albedo—in reflectivity and color.

  In looking back at that moment in time, putting aside all the pre-mission training, there wasn’t a big picture in my mind of the sequence of what we were doing. We did take some pictures walking around the lunar module. We looked for any damage on the Eagle and at what the ground looked like underneath our lander. By the way, when I got through walking around the Eagle, snapping photos, I gave the camera to Neil. He took most of the pictures. I’m not trying to ease out of any public relations perspective, but we were never briefed on how important the PR pictures would be.

  Our stay time on the moon was brief. But the emotion of being first has been long lasting. Still, as we both walked on the moon, I did have the sense of not being as much a member of a team as a follower. If Neil started to do the wrong thing, I wouldn’t have known, because I wasn’t following a particular order of what we were doing. In some ways, we were thrown out onto the surface and expected to perform a checklist by memory. Set up the flag. Open rock boxes. Put an experiment in place.

  Buzz Aldrin’s photo of his own boot print on the moon

  (Illustration Credit 4.1)

  So it was very extemporaneous. There was a sense of, “Well, we’re here. Let’s go do what we’re supposed to do. But what is next?” The later Apollo moonwalkers had a little more time to get used to the lunar environment.

  One of the strongest sensations I recall is the smell of the moon.

  Buzz Aldrin inside the Eagle, the lunar lander

  (Illustration Credit 4.2)

  Neil and I reentered the Eagle lunar lander and repressurized our little home away from home. Lunar dust soiled our suits and equipment, and it had a definite odor, like burnt charcoal or the ashes that are in a fireplace, especially if you sprinkle a little water on them.

  Before we left Earth, some alarmists considered the lunar dust as very dangerous, in fact pyrophoric—capable of igniting spontaneously in air. The theory was that the lunar dust had been so void of contact with oxygen, as soon as we repressurized our lunar module cabin it might heat up, smolder, and perhaps burst into flames. At least that was the worry of a few. A late July fireworks display on the moon was not something anyone wanted!

  All the official samples collected from the moon’s surface were placed in vacuum-packed containers. Neil did grab a contingency specimen. He stuffed it into his thigh space suit pocket, just in case there was a problem that forced us to scurry off the moon in a hurry.

  So, following our moonwalks, first I then Neil climbed back on board the lander. That grab specimen was placed on the cylindrical flat top of the ascent engine cover. As the cabin began to fill with air, we both anxiously waited to see if the lunar sample would begin to smoke and smolder. If it did, we’d stop pressurization, open the hatch, and toss it out. But nothing happened. We got back to the business of readying for departure from the moon.

  Yes, Apollo 11 was historic, but it was fraught with risks. When we finally set the Eagle lander down, with Neil piloting and me calling out descent numbers for him, we had only an estimated 16 seconds of fuel left in the descent stage. On the surface, if we had fallen and torn a suit, there wasn’t much
chance of survival. If the one ascent engine didn’t ignite or if the onboard computer had a glitch, we would never have left the moon. If the rendezvous with Mike Collins, circling the moon in the command module, hadn’t gone flawlessly, we then would have faced rather nasty consequences. That’s just a few of a string of “ifs.”

  Buzz Aldrin deploys exploratory technologies on the moon’s surface.

  (Illustration Credit 4.3)

  I note that, in recent years, a document has surfaced that was authored by William Safire, then President Nixon’s speechwriter, about our Apollo moon mission. It was written, I suppose, in the spirit of considering what if the “if factor” did not work in our favor.

  In a July 18, 1969, statement to White House official H. R. Haldeman, Safire titled his internal White House essay “In Event of Moon Disaster” and included this ominous phrasing: “Fate has ordained that the men who went to the moon to explore in peace will stay on the moon to rest in peace.”

  Calling us brave men, the speech went on to acknowledge that Armstrong and Aldrin know that “there is no hope for their recovery.” “In ancient days, men looked at stars and saw their heroes in the constellations,” the statement continued. “In modern times, we do much the same, but our heroes are epic men of flesh and blood.”

  The Safire document added: “In their exploration, they stirred the people of the world to feel as one; in their sacrifice, they bind more tightly the brotherhood of man.”

  As odd a statement as that sounds today, it didn’t surprise me to read it. Speechwriters prepare remarks for all sorts of hypothetical events. Senior officials must always be prepared with remarks for breakthroughs as well as tragedies. Apollo 11 had the potential to fit into either one of those categories. Reading the prepared eulogy, I am proud to say that our mission accomplished the same goals—and brought us back home safely.