Time to get back into space
Former managing editor weighs in on new book
The Front Page
Morning Update
Friday, July 9, 2021
By Ken Tingley
HOUSTON
It has been almost 10 years since the end of the space shuttle program. The first shuttle mission happened when I was 24. The Last when I was 54. Consider that for a second. Flying the shuttle into space became as ordinary as a trip to the supermarket for my generation.
As I toured the Johnson Space Center this week, I tried to convey to my 25-year-old son the pride of accomplishment we had as a nation, the sense of excitement we felt as we explored other worlds and made science fiction into science fact.
I wondered if we lost something as a people when we lost the shuttle program.
It was like we gave up and questioned who were as a nation.
I wonder if that is continuing today.
Seven years before the last shuttle mission in 2004, I got talking to a man in a Washington, D.C. bar. His name was Ken Szalai. He eventually revealed he had been the head guy at the Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base in California where they perfected the space shuttle landings and worked on other experimental aircraft.
The Columbia tragedy was fresh on everyone’s mind and he tutored us about what happened with drawings on bar cocktail napkins. He talked about physics. He boasted that Neil Armstrong had been to his house. So had the commanders of Columbia and Challenger.
He was asked what it was like to lose a shuttle crew.
“Has anyone ever called to tell you that your wife is dead,” he said, staring back sternly. “And you can come down to identify her body, which is in about 23 pieces. That was what it was like.”
I thought about Ken Szalai as we took the tram around the Johnson Space Center. I thought about him as I looked at the models being assembled of the new Artemis space capsule that is scheduled to to take Americans back to the moon in the coming years as the first step toward Mars.
Szalai retired in 1998. His biography online seems to have every possible honor from the aerospace industry. He was part of an expert group that advised NASA about a return trip to the moon - 17 years ago.
In the bar that night, he was asked why.
"We're out of practice," Szalai said. "We haven't been there in 30 years."
Now it is nearly 50 years.
The Artemis mission to the moon has been delayed over and over in recent years. Most Americans probably don’t even realize it is planned. Many might even object to it as a waste of money. It is now scheduled for 2022. That got me excited all over again.
Ken Szalai is 79 now and he may get to see man walk on the moon again. I hope that happens. I hope he has a seat of honor.
I spent about six hours at the Johnson Space Center and could have gone on longer. It was a special time and I wished I had paid closer attention to all those space shuttle missions and the feats they were accomplishing.
It shocked me there had been 135 space shuttle missions and 852 crew members while I was living life down on Earth.
As I prepared to leave, I stopped by the gift store and saw a T-shirt that made me laugh.
There was a drawing of the moon with an American flag stuck on its surface. Across the face of the moon were written the words: “No one ever visits anymore.”
I bought it.
And I hope that changes soon.
Review of book
Gary Kebbel, past managing editor of The Post-Star and journalism professor emeritus at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln was kind enough to to write a review on my book of columns coming out later this month.
Gary was also the person who hired me in Glens Falls to be sports editor.
Here is what he wrote about “The Last American Editor.”
“In writing about the people of Glens Falls and the Adirondack region, Tingley writes about hope and what’s best in us. Although his lessons are couched in moving, well-written stories about alcoholism or multiple sclerosis or organ donation or a Naval reservist shipping out for active duty in the Middle East, they much more broadly inspire us. They teach universal lessons about strengths and weaknesses of people who could be us. They exalt humanity, love and caring. They inspire others to help. They honor people and their community. They push us to see how much better life is when the joy of living it right shines for others to see. Quite simply, they show us the benefits of community.”
I think he got it right.
Another ballpark
I was able to check off ballparks in Pittsburgh and Chicago (Comiskey) over the past two years. Tonight, I have tickets in Houston to see the Astros play my beloved Yankees.
I’m looking forward to see the Astros domed stadium with the train that runs across the left field wall.
I’m just hoping the Yankees can give a respectable showing.
Presidential rating
From time to time, historians get together and rate the presidents. While Lincoln and Washington’s place never seems to change, there is an ongoing debate among the other presidents as they jockey for position.
After reading recent biographies on George H.W. Bush and U.S. Grant have gotten boosts in the latest ratings.
I was at Kennedy Space Center as a kid in the late 60s. We were able to drive right up to the base of the VAB and saw the Saturn Five inside (you could do that then), yards away. It was staggering, I will never forget it, it was like looking up at the Washington Monument. So, I hope you are following what SpaceX is doing - down in Texas they just rolled out the booster section for a rocket even bigger than the Saturn. And they are going to obit a second stage the size of a 13 story block of flats later this month - and they are basically doing that on the taxpayers dime. We are going back, and soon!