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Opinion

Old Guys in Space

By SCOTT T. HARDS


宇宙に飛ぶ老人

最近、筆者がオフィスを移した群馬県の館林市は、米スペースシャトル、ディスカバリー号で2回目の宇宙飛行を達成した向井千秋さんの出身地。今回の飛行は、向井さんと共に、最長老の宇宙飛行士ジョン・グレンさんが搭乗したことでも話題を呼んだ

Recently, I moved my company out of Tokyo to Tatebayashi, in Gunma Prefecture. One of the first things I noticed were signs all around the city in support of Chiaki Mukai. As most people know, she's the woman who became the first Japanese to travel into space more than once when she joined the crew of the U.S. Space Shuttle Discovery on their recent flight. Mukai-san is originally from Tatebayashi, and naturally the local citizens are quite proud of the hometown girl who has made it big!

Outside of Japan, however, it wasn't Mukai-san who was getting all the attention. In Spain, they feted the first of their countrymen to ever make it into space, Pedro Duque. And of course in the United States, all the talk was about John Glenn, the famous astronaut-turned-senator who was the first American to orbit the Earth, and who has now, at 77, become the oldest person to ever travel into space. There are many that believe that sending Glenn back up into space was little more than a publicity stunt for NASA, but I believe that it rights a major wrong.

Back in 1962, after Glenn made his first historic flight, President Kennedy banned him from further space flight. JFK was worried about the negative impact on national morale that the accidental death of such a hero would have. But that was hardly fair to Glenn, who had made it through one of the most rigorous testing programs ever devised to be selected as one of the seven original U.S. astronauts.

He also trained long and hard for his mission aboard Friendship 7. But one 4-hour flight was all he got for his efforts.

Sure, it made him a hero, but I suspect there are times when he would have gladly traded his fame for a chance to get back in the cockpit. Now, 36 years later, he has finally had his wish granted.

So is this all just a P.R. effort by NASA? Perhaps. NASA has suffered severe budget cuts recently and feels a need to attract positive attention. NASA gets plenty of negative press whenever something goes wrong, but its successes get much less coverage. But by putting an American hero on board the shuttle, NASA got every major U.S. network to give it live coverage of the launch, something that hasn't happened for 10 years. The follow-up reporting was heavier than usual, too. It appears the strategy has worked.

I completely support funding nearly anything NASA wants to do. Not only are the direct accomplishments of the space program, such as putting a man on the moon, a source of tremendous national, and even global, pride, it furthers our scientific knowledge in numerous fields immeasurably. What's more, though many people don't realize it, there are many spin-offs from space technology that benefit our daily lives. Did you know that Velcro was originally developed for holding small objects in place in the zero gravity of a space capsule?

What about smoke detectors, which save thousands of lives every year? These, too, were originally used aboard spacecraft.

So keep up the good work, NASA! If launching famous old people into space is what you have to do to stay golden in the public eye, then go for it. I doubt you'll have any trouble finding volunteers to head to the heavens.


Shukan ST: Nov. 20, 1998

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