Hero II
They started a discussion about the Space.com article I linked to below in the collectSPACE forums, so I rewrote a slightly different version of my lost post:
I saw that article, and thought it was really good, though I disagreed with this bit though:
"NASA has heroes. It just needs to do something with them beyond orbiting the planet at dizzying speeds. Send them to Mars or back to the moon. Either would ignite the public's imagination. Or do we have to wait until the skies are teeming with Chinese taikonauts before we take action?"
As Chuck Yeager would no doubt be glad to remind us, NASA didn't wait until they had done something to turn the Mercury Seven into heroes. That's going about it all backwards. Create heroes first, and they'll pave the way to Mars.
In discussions about what the agency should do with the new crop of Educator Astronauts, I have made the suggestion (ignored, thus far) that Hollywood agents should be hired for them. Get them out there, give them name recognition. Get them on Letterman, put them in television commercials, have them on magazine covers, secure guest appearances on TV shows. Make people know who they are. In the media, a moderate amount of charisma will count as much as a large amount of accomplishments. Charisma is not an uncommon quality in the corps, and the EAs will be people that have spent their lives talking.
Making the people interesting will make the missions interesting. The mission designation "STS-95" means nothing to most people. They didn't follow the mission because they were excited about its SPACEHAB payload. It was one of the most-watched missions in recent years for one reason and one reason only--John Glenn.
Frankly, with STS-114 grounded indefinitely, there is no reason why Eileen Collins should not be all over the place. NASA's first female Shuttle commander? Someone who is interesting, personable, and, for that matter, attractive? How hard a sale is this? If the agency went about this the right way, there is no reason why everyone in the country should not know the name Eileen Collins by the time she flies. And if so, it would be NASA's greatest moment in years-- not only the excitement of a return to flight mission, but also the interest of having a "celebrity" aboard.
I doubt most people today could name one member of the current corps. Yet having astronauts with name recognition would make such a big difference for the agency and for spaceflight. If, when people read or watched something about NASA, they heard from someone they recognized and respected, what that person had to say would count for so much more.
And once you have the public behind you, the solar system opens up. As we learned in The Right Stuff... what makes those rocket engines go is money.

:: :: 09:51 :: David :: [permalink] ::