In Mr. Kirby’s opinion, “The space program has become a joke.”

I completely disagree. Kirby provides no real information to back up that opinion.

When referring to the recent problems that crew of Columbia had in opening the hatch for their space walk, Kirby says this:

“A planned spacewalk to test building techniques for the future international space station was canceled, leaving the astronauts with little to do but watch the pretty scenery below.”

THAT IS ABSOLUTELY FALSE!

The crew of Columbia has plenty to do. They work for 16 hours a day. They are almost always doing something!

The space walk was only one of plenty of events that have been planned for the crew of STS-80.

They even found a way, inside the mid-deck of Columbia, to test some of that equipment that was supposed to be used on the space walk.

Space is such a harsh environment, it is amazing to me that NASA can do half of the things that they do in space.

Example: The crew has used the Canada Arm (RMS – Remote Manipulator System) many times during this mission. The amazing thing about that is that the Arm can lift satellites while in orbit but can’t even lift its own weight on earth.

Credit must be given to the hard work done by many people at NASA and its contractors in creating a device that can ONLY be used in a place where many of the Arm’s designers have never been.

Mr. Kirby says, “There is little excitement in the spaceflight business anymore.”

I challenge Mr. Kirby to create a vehicle that can go from zero to 17,500 miles per hour in less than nine minutes, travel millions of miles and operate in a place where temperatures range from -200 degrees to +200 degrees in a mater of seconds.

It is a tribute to the human spirit that the only problem on this flight so far is the fact that a hatch got stuck.

It is not dramatic enough for the public that we launched people into outer space last week, even though less than 100 years ago we couldn’t even fly.

Take a close look at America’s Space program and you’ll find something to be VERY proud of.

Mark Solomon

Senior

Industrial Technology