Destination Space: TV Special Outlines Our Future in the Cosmos By Maia Weinstock Staff Writer posted: 10:00 am ET 13 June 2000
destination_space_000612
Imagine this: Within the next 50 years,
flights into space will be as common as business trips from New York to
Tokyo. Space probes will be propelled into the outer reaches of the solar
system not by rocket fuel, but by massive laser beams. Science satellites
will stop at asteroid "gas stations," where mining ships will be ready
to fill them with fuel converted from the asteroids’ innards.
Sound like science fiction? It’s not.
Taking lessons from researchers and space explorers of the past 40 years,
scientists, entrepreneurs and space adventurers of all ages are already
turning some of the most out-of-this-world dreams into reality.
Destination Space, a two-hour
National
Geographic EXPLORER presentation premiering June 18th at 8 p.m. Eastern/Pacific
Time on CNBC, introduces you to some of these visionaries, interspersing
their stories with now-legendary accounts of success and failure in our
endeavor to conquer the cosmos.
Flashing back 30 years, the program
begins with a panorama of earthly scenes from July 20th 1969, one of the
most important days in the history of space exploration.
In one shot, dozens of recreational
campers sit out in a huge clump by the ocean. In another, a crowd of people
crane to catch a glimpse of a storefront television set. What are these
people waiting for? Humans are about to lift off and set foot on another
world for the first time -- and everyone wants to watch.
Unfortunately, in the decades following
the landing of Apollo 11’s Eagle lunar module, the general public started
to lose interest in space. Television networks opted to air soap operas
instead of piloted launches. And after the tragic explosion of the Challenger
space shuttle in 1986, the world was left to wonder whether sending humans
into space is really worth it.
In Destination Space, producer
John Rubin does a nice job of summing up the dilemma of spaceflight, ultimately
concluding that despite the risks involved, venturing into space is part
of human nature -- and will continue as long as we have questions about
what’s out there.
The program loosely centers on the
history of the Russian Mir space station, an old, rundown outpost in near-Earth
orbit that has been a great accomplishment and a source of great pride,
but also a source of danger, competition and frustration for Russian cosmonauts,
as well as American and European astronauts.
Michael
Foale, an American astronaut who encountered trying times aboard Mir,
weaves a detailed narrative of his experiences on board the crumbling space
station. His tale highlights the questions and concerns many people have
with the current state of spaceflight, not to mention the issues and complications
that come about in any international mission. But he also amplifies the
positive gains made by learning from mistakes and learning from people
of other cultures.
Just a day on the job for American
astronaut Michael Foale, as he works in the space shuttle’s payload last
December.
In between the chapters of Foale’s
story, Destination Space introduces viewers to the newest members
of the modern "space race." From entrepreneurs trying to boost space tourism,
to competitive businesses working to create the most efficient rocket launchers,
to researchers aiming to perfect models of high-mileage spacecraft, today’s
space explorers compel us to dream of the "impossible" and imagine ways
to make those ideas take form.
One strong focus of these intertwining
spotlights is the development of sleek, reusable space vehicles. The innovative
plane designer Burt Rutan, for example, discusses his Proteus, a small
spaceplane that can fly up to 11 miles (18 kilometers) high while carrying
a second spacecraft, which can then be launched into space from mid-air.
Conceivably, such a dual-flight system could be an alternative to the current
space shuttle takeoff system, which requires gargantuan amounts of fuel
to lift off from the ground.
Destination Space also includes
a section on the "Eggs Prize," a school project aimed at getting youngsters
to be both science-minded and creative. Their mission? To safely launch
and land a water rocket carrying an egg as its passenger. A kids’ version
of the "X
Prize" (in which a private foundation is offering a $10 million-cash
prize to the first private team that can build a reusable spaceship to
carry three adults), the Eggs Prize has already inspired
a new generation of space adventurers.
In fact, the Eggs Prize segment is
the most hands-on portion of the show; it brings some of the more out-of-this-world
science ideas quite literally back down to Earth. This is a good thing,
because while many of the other projects discussed may be, as astronaut
Shannon Lucid says, "opening space up for more people," the truth is, most
of them will only ever be open to a very select -- i.e. wealthy -- group
of people. Seeing that kids can get involved in the same kind of projects
that wealthy entrepreneurs are taking on is refreshing. It shows us that
we can all study space and take part at some level in its exploration.
Destination Space is a must-see
for anyone even remotely interested in our future in space. It gives viewers
a new perspective on our place in the universe, as well as our technological
progress over the past 100 years. It shows us what the future of space
exploration might look like in the next few decades and beyond. And it
teaches us, above all, that the final frontier is much closer than we think.
advertisement
