AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2020 - 20

WAYPOINTS

Looking up, collectively

BY THOMAS B. HAINES
Editor in Chief

Why space travel is not just about science and technology

Editor in Chief
TOM HAINES was
born two days
before Alan
Shepard became
the first American
in space and thus
has lived through
the entire U.S.
manned space
program.

20 | AOPA PILOT August 2020

THE ASCENT OF THE FALCON 9 ROCKET that carried
NASA astronauts Douglas Hurley and Robert Behnken
to the International Space Station at the end of May
was not just the launch of a rocket, it was the launch
of a whole new era in space travel. The commercialization of space has begun and there's no turning
back- not that we would want to.
On what was basically a charter flight, private company SpaceX received about $50 million a seat to carry
the two aloft (see "Pilot Briefing: Back in the Game,"
page 30). It's a bargain compared to the $80 million the
Russians were reportedly charging for a seat on Soyuz
rockets. Meanwhile, each space shuttle mission cost
about $450 million, according to NASA.
SpaceX founder Elon Musk has a vision of launching
rockets daily from the Kennedy Space Center, reusing
many components in order to reduce costs. Meanwhile,
Boeing, Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin, and Richard Branson's
Virgin Galactic are among the other private companies
looking to move people and goods on suborbital flights
and all the way to the moon, Mars, and beyond.
The May launch of NASA SpaceX Crew Dragon
Demo-2 was the first carrying Americans from U.S. soil
since the last flight of the space shuttle in 2011. Both
Hurley and Behnken are space shuttle veterans. In fact,
Hurley was the pilot on STS-135, the final shuttle flight.
Both are married to former astronauts who have spent
time in space. Maybe it's all NASA hype, but the two
men are reportedly best friends and enjoy spending time
together with their sons. It certainly paints a nice picture. Who wouldn't like to have the four of them over for
dinner and drinks? What great stories they must have.
Needing government money-and thus the support of members of Congress-NASA projects source
components from all over the country, spreading the
dollars around among key congressional districts.
Privately funded, SpaceX has no such requirements. Instead, it is highly vertically integrated,
bringing raw materials in one end of its Hawthorne,
California, factory and shipping finished rockets and
space capsules out the other end. SpaceX even manages all of its own flights through its launch control and
monitoring facilities in Hawthorne and at its various
launch sites, including Kennedy Space Center and the
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
Although its approach to building rockets may be
entirely different than NASA's, SpaceX has learned a

thing or two about promotion from the federal agency.
NASA's PR machine, especially during Apollo, was a
work of art, building goodwill and visibility for the
lunar launches-all done slickly and organically with
little outlay of money.
Similarly, SpaceX is practically a household name,
but has spent almost nothing on advertising. Instead it
has become known through its slick branding and outlandish promotions. This is, after all, the same company
that launched Musk's Tesla roadster into a solar orbit
aboard an enormous Falcon Heavy rocket on February
6, 2018. As of early June 2020, the mannequin Starman,
casually sitting in the driver's seat of the electric car,
was located some 145 million miles from Earth, headed
back toward our planet at a speed of 38,000 mph-giving
Musk extreme bragging rights for having the fastest car
in the solar system, and perhaps the universe.
When it comes to style, SpaceX even outdid NASA.
Instead of the lumpy spacesuits of the Apollo program
or the baggy "pumpkin suits" worn by shuttle astronauts, Hurley and Behnken launched in trim, tailored
SpaceX-designed suits with pressure and cooling systems slickly integrated into their custom-built seats
aboard the Dragon Endeavour capsule.
But it was the raw and unmitigated thrust of that
Falcon 9 rocket that literally moved those of us fortunate enough to get to see the launch on May 30. I stood
at a viewing site at the air force station in awe as the
sound waves washed over me, wishing for nothing but
the best for the two men inside, for NASA, for SpaceX,
and for the nation bold enough to support such an effort.
As space reporter Miles O'Brien told me, nothing
unites the world better and faster than a historic launch.
"Space is one of the few things that can bring us together
in a positive way," he said. "It literally and figuratively
lifts us up. Space exploration gives us a chance to gather
together at the communal hearth, as it were, and celebrate our accomplishments as human beings."
After the sordid first half of 2020 with its global pandemic and civil unrest, we were in great need of time
at that communal hearth reflecting on what we can do
when all cultures come together and are allowed to contribute equally to moving us forward as a society. Thank
you NASA and SpaceX for that respite.
AOPA
EMAIL thomas.haines@aopa.org

@tomhaines29

AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2020