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Heartbreaking. That was the word that immediately came to mind when I stood beside my daughter in my kitchen last night as we watched from my iPad the Antares rocket attempt to launch.
I was hit with an instant flood of memories to when I was about her age, watching Challenger launch, then jumping ahead to years later when I woke in the early Hawaiian morning just to watch the landing of Columbia. For me, the risk and danger of space exploration is something that is memorable and real, but for her, it was the first time that she witnessed the loss of an uncrewed mission.
It is tragic, and my heart sincerely breaks for those who lost research experiments and the countless hours and resources that were poured into all that Antares and Cygnus represented, but right now- you and I have a choice.
We can choose to say, “Oh, that’s too risky; let’s just stop.”
OR…
We can take this as a somber reminder that there IS risk, a very real risk, that we as human kind accept when we say that will try something new, go somewhere new, be something new. We test and and try and experiment, but even under the best of circumstances, things go wrong sometimes. There is risk, but what is the risk of becoming complacent? What’s the risk of staying right where you are, never wondering what else is out there, never challenging yourself to try something new or do something in a new way?
We can pat ourselves on the back and celebrate anniversaries of incredible feats such as the Moon landing, but if we don’t support those pushing the boundaries NOW to see what else we are capable of, or what else is out there, then we’ll never reach our own potential. We’ll live small, and eventually collapse into ourselves.
But…
When we face risk, when we challenge ourselves to explore new opportunities, then we are opening ourselves up to infinite possibilities- despite risk.
What did I tell my daughter about what happened last night?
I told her that it is quite sad for everything that was lost last night, but there is always an extremely valuable lesson gained from failure. The accident will be studied, and examined and from it, a weakness will be identified and strengthened. From that failure will come new discoveries and a safer method. That’s what we do when we stumble and fall, isn’t it?
So, instead of using last night’s failed launch as a bullet point to why we shouldn’t be doing “this” or “that,” let it spark a new wave of support to invest more into our space program. Yep. I said it. MORE. We need to be forward thinking enough to say that this investment goes beyond the here and now, and that it is worth the risk- because it is. And if you are stuck in the here and now, then listen to just a few NASA Spinoffs that we are taking advantage of NOW.
For NASA’s statement about Orbital Science Corp’s Antares rocket, please read here.
