"Imagine there are no countries..."

Last week there was a meet and greet for the astronaut crew of last December’s Discovery Shuttle mission, labeled STS-116. Sponsored by the United States Embassy, the American Club of Sweden and the Tekniska Museet of Sweden (National Museum of Science and Technology) it was to honor the shuttle crew and was used as a prelude to the upcoming exhibit on space travel this June. The guests were treated to a panel discussion on the mission, a question and answer period and finally an autograph session with the crew.

Of course, the big attraction was Christer Fuglesang, the first Swede to go up in space. Christer walked in space three times, performing an installation of a permanent power supply for Space Lab and then removed a faulty solar panel. Swedes are very proud of Mr. Fuglesang; celebrating his space mission much the same as the US celebrated John Glenn nearly fifty years ago.

Let’s ponder that last statement for a moment. We have been exploring space for nearly a half-century. We have circled the planet and gone to the moon and back. We have launched space probes in various directions and distances. We have a permanent orbiting experimental laboratory, manned by mostly Russians, and the US has lead the rest of the world in the space cartage industry with its Space Shuttle.

Yet, when you put the first 50 years of space travel against the fifty years after the Wright Brothers took off that windy hill at Kitty Hawk, we seem to have not accomplished much. When you think that in the first half of the 20th century, we went from the Wrights, to Rickenbacker, to Lindberg, to passenger and cargo service to the jet plane and, finally, the 707. In the last 50 years of space travel, we have barely left our front yard. Considering that in 1968, Kubrick thought we would be heading for Jupiter by 2001, it does seem a little underachieving.

It was during the question and answer period of the get together that the group was asked about what they thought the future was going to bring. The mission commander, Mark Polansky, answered the question. He explained that there were to be just a limited number of Shuttle missions left and that the storied program was to be phased out in 2009. The next US program would be the Mission to Mars, which would begin in 2014 with rehearsals to the moon and back, then the attempt on Mars itself by 2025 or so.

With a bit of reflection in his voice, he remarked how he thought that by now, that he might have been part of the Mars project, but in reality he will be out of the space program entirely by the time they launch for the Red Planet. He also said that in the five or six-year period between the end of the Shuttle and the beginning of the Mars attempt, there will be no American led space activity.

For over 40 years, the American space program has been the one true symbol of the idealized American psyche. Technological leadership, mixed with the brave heroics of pushing the envelope. Like Captain Kirk said, “Bravely going where no man has gone before.” Now the torch is being passed to our space traveling allies from Europe and Asia, as represented by Christer Fuglesand and other heroes from other countries around the planet. Yet, you couldn’t help but notice the uncomfortable feeling of Commander Polansky that NASA would be warming the passenger seats instead of doing the driving. I’m sure that NASA will be busy doing missions on somebody else’s bus, but we don’t like not being in control very much, do we?

Polansky said that when your rotating around the planet at 17,500 MPH you can’t see borders and that even the most tumultuous spots on the planet look beautiful from space. He ended by saying it makes you wonder while looking at the one planet, why we just can’t get along?

So rather then feel sorry about turning over the reins to other countries, maybe we should celebrate a little. Perhaps it will be through cooperation in space exploration we’ll make that world without borders a reality. Like the crew of Kirk’s Enterprise, it takes many kinds of people to make the whole thing work.