Posts: 1634
From: Smithfield, Me, USA
Registered: Mar 2005

posted 05-02-2008 08:45 PM               

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I had the privilege this week to meet Dr.'s Roger Launius and David DeVorkin from the Air and Space Museum. Dr. Launius is a member of the Division of Space History at the museum and the former Chief Historian of NASA. Dr. DeVorkin is Curator, History of Astronomy, Division of Space History at the museum. I don't think there is anything ground shattering or new here, but thought you might enjoy reading my notes. It was certainly a pleasure just to get to listen to these two gentleman talk about the museum.

1. David discussed the difficulties the museum had in getting permission to display the Enola Gay. It took many years of addressing the issue over and over until everyone felt comfortable with potential political ramifications. I asked Roger and David when they were going to display Challenger and Columbia. They said they had asked and NASA refused. They also said that in 1996 they last requested A204 for display and presented various alternatives on how to display it. Dan Goldin asked which option would not get him in trouble (anger someone). Roger replied none. He then asked what would happen if he did nothing, and Roger replied "nothing; status quo". You know the rest of the story.

2. Roger gave a formal presentation titled "Looking Backward/Looking Forward: Spaceflight at the Turn of the New Millennium". He said that he has had to explain many times when updating Washington DC staffers and congress on ISS progress why it wasn't round like in the movie 2001 Space Odyssey, which perhaps reflects how much these folks actually know and care about the ISS.
   • He discussed "Why fly in space"?
     • Scientific discovery and understanding
       
     • National security/Defense
       
     • Economic competiveness and commerce
       
     • Human destiny/survival of the species
       
     • National prestige and geopolitics
       
     • The 1st three require robotics only. The remaining 2 require humans.
   • Five core challenges to the future of space travel/exploration
     • Political will
       • Budget constraints
         
       • He once was on The Daily Show opposite moon hoaxers. He was asked ridiculous questions like "what % of the moon is made up of paper mache vs plastic?"
         
       • The reason we haven't been back to the moon is that there is mostly nothing there to get anyone excited (I sat next to the Geology department chair that had a few words about this comment). Roger once told Neil Armstrong that he should not have said "One small step.......", but should have said "what just moved behind that rock?" Apparently Neil didn't see the humor.
         
       • April 2007 poll on where federal dollars go showed that most Americans felt that NASA is the first place to cut. Therefore we will not get back to the moon in 2020. See table below.

         If spending had to be cut on federal programs, which two federal program(s) do you think the cuts should come from? (Harris Poll 4/10/2007)

         Program Space program Welfare Def spending Farm subsidies Env programs Homeland Sec Transportation Medicaid Education Social Security Medicare

         Total % 51 28 28 24 16 12 11 4 3 2 1

         Rep % 44 43 8 29 30 3 16 6 4 2 2

         Dem % 58 18 45 25 7 14 9 3 1 3 *

         Ind % 49 29 28 22 14 21 9 2 2 2 1

       • Cheap, reliable, multifaceted access to space. Ares I will probably get built for LEO (transportation to the ISS) but the heavy lift rocket will not get funded.
         
       • Smart, small nanotechnology robots.
         • Send them everywhere
         
         
       • Protecting this planet and species
         • Monitoring the environment
           
         • Asteroids, comets, & meteors
           
         • Military use
           
         • Extraterrestrial life
           • Roger believes in ET life, but doesn't believe they are visiting us
         
         
       • Back to the moon and on to Mars
         • But when?
           
         • Need a strategy for sustained human exploration of space
     
     
   • I asked Roger what he felt the value of doing research in LEO on the ISS, and his thoughts are that if we stick with the program as intended that there would most likely be breakthroughs that would have a positive impact on us earthlings. Incidentally, I agree!
   
   
3. I asked both Roger and David for their opinion on the role of the private collector of space artifacts.
   • Both laughed out loud and David yelled "the enemy", in jest of course.
     
   • Roger said there is a place for the private collector.
     
   • Roger said the most popular artifacts are flown items which by law belong to the American government unless the item is proven to be legally owned by an individual (not sure I really understand this comment; I guess if an astronaut retained possession of a flown item then is it legally his/hers?); if so he had no problems. He cited one "Rob" Pearlman as being a very ethical and conscientious collector whom he respected very much. He was more worried about the collector whose goal was to make a profit. We also talked about the potential loss of provenance with the private collector vs the museum.
     
   • Roger cited Max Airy's position as being very unfortunate, but never passed judgment on Max other than saying he had been convicted and was serving time.
   
   
4. I asked Roger about preserving the 6 lunar landing sites. He said it had been pursued; the National Park Service was contacted but said they could do nothing as the sites were not on US territory. He also unsuccessfully tried to get them named as World Heritage Sites. He said something will eventually happen, but not sure when. His biggest concern is if/when robotic rovers are sent to the moon; the landing sites would be a prime location to return to and could cause significant disturbance.

5. David is working new concepts to improve the museum, and one of his current projects is "Guide by Cell". As the museum visitor walks through the museum, they would have the option of calling a phone number (provided at many exhibits) on their cell and hear a recorded summary by someone actually involved with the exhibit. They have recorded interviews with many icons who are now deceased; e.g. they stated they have 18 hours of recorded interviews with James Van Allen and 12 hours with John Houbolt.