My friend the space cadet has to vent his frustrations from time to time...

For quite some years now there has been plenty of public criticism on "excessive" space research funding. The European Union alone is throwing a projected 3.4 billion Euros at it from 2007-2013, while NASA is planning tlo spend $17.6 billion for 2009 alone! Is it seriously worth it in such dire times? Where is it all leading to? Why give so much money at something that hasn't provided anything in return for decades??

"As you may know, the space shuttle is nearing the end of its service life, which is set for 2010 and the politics of our times mean that the prospects for its successor Orion are not assured at all. The financial crisis has become a full blown recession and America's global monetary machine, which we now know is inherently flawed from the get-go, is in need of some serious maintenance. Not only the recession, but the relatively recent disasters such as Columbia, 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina have added to a nation's doubts about the space program's priority in terms of funding. The myth of straightforward space exploration and space travel for everyone has been all but shattered by these tragedies.

Such is the nature of my job that just recently I completed a study on the mechanics of the shuttle's orbiter vehicle design. The scale of the technical challenge implicit in any shuttle mission is quite literally awe-inspiring. It's legitimate to question the motives of the space program, but it's wrong to overlook, let alone to denigrate the remarkable technology, enterprise and organization that underpin it. I believe that this aspect of the program alone is sufficient to justify its advancement. It surely marks one of the most brilliant achievements in science and engineering yet attained by our species.

People tend to forget that it is only through the trials and tribulations of technological pioneering and the discovering of new frontiers that we progress as a species. We have become a space faring civilization and have taken our first steps on worlds beyond our own. This is significant not only because it stands as a testament to our capabilities, but also for less ideological and more practical reasons. To put it bluntly: the amenities of your life as you know them today are linked directly and indirectly to the space program. The computer and its exponential advancement along with all of the countless benefits it provides, the internet, cell-phones, microwave, TV, navigation, and basically all of the electronic products you know and depend on today, all thanks to mans modern quest to explore space.

It seems that the products of our technological strife have ushered in an era of technological comfort and already we have become too complacent. Perhaps it is time that we lost our odd penchant for oversimplifying our greatest triumphs. There is nothing ordinary about the people who engineer and pilot machines like the shuttle. They are an elite, and they personify the immense contribution of their nation to human technology and civilization. A concept that has become all but diluted or even forgotten since President JFK first set the nation on its path towards progression in the early 60's.

The space shuttle is much more than a flying brickyard. Its launch and homecoming, although laden with danger, is anything but a reckless trust-to-luck. Engineering doesn't get more audacious than this and that is the beauty of human nature. We have come so far thanks to our intelligence and curiosity that sets us apart from the other life-forms on this planet. Can you imagine what our species and life on earth would be like if instead of exploring we had just stayed in Africa? The stars are beckoning, and the shuttle marks one more step on mankind's glorious road."