Sapulpa Daily Herald (Sapulpa, Okla.), Vol. 72, No. 121, Ed. 1 Monday, February 3, 1986 Page: 4 of 10
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OPINION
Sapulpa Daily Herald
PAGE FOUR—Sapulpa (Okla.) Herald, Monday, February 3, IW6
Is man needed
on space flights ?
The virtues of manned space flight — debated for years in the
scientific community — became a national issue last week as space
shuttle Challenger exploded, barely a minute off the launch pad.
While the manned space program faced its worst setback, the un-
manned Voyager probe was transmitting unprecedented pictures
from the planet Uranus, deep in our solar system.
The Associated Press asked two experts on space flight, one a sup-
porter of the shuttle program and the other an opponent, to put the
case in their own words.
Yes...
Editor's note: Bruce Murray, Ph.I)., is a professor of
planetary science at the California Institute ol
Technology in Pasadena. Murray, 54, also is vice presi-
dent and co-founder (with Carl Sagan) of the 100,000-
member Planetary Society, a private, nonprofit group
dedicated to space exploration based in Pasadena.
From 1976 to 1982, Murray was director of the NASA-
Caltech Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, which
operates America's unmanned planetary exploration
program. Here is his argument on continuing thr shut-
tle program:
The tragedy of last Tuesday has touched the
American soul more deeply than anything since the
Kennedy assassination Why?
Why should there be such a tremendous grief and
outpouring over the death of seven of us when death is
such a common occurrence in all walks of life?
The reason is that we have all identified so deeply
with those attractive and adventuresome individuals
who are our surrogates in space. They represented all
of us reaching out to push the frontiers of adventure
and exploration
For that reason, their deaths will not and should not
be in vain — we should continue to collectively send out
representatives to explore space on our behalf. We
should continue to do that in a public and visible way so
that indeed all of us may participate vicariously.
We should continue to fly the space shuttle for that
purpose as soon as the particular difficulties
associated with the explosion have been identified and
fixed
There is a second tragedy unfolding, not nearly so
visible to the American people but just as profound in
its implications in the long run The shuttle had been
designed not only for the purpose of carrying humans
to and from Earth orbit, but it also incorporated a new
and unproven concept in space flight
The shuttle was intended to carry all kinds of
automated payloads intended for distant orbits to per
form the services of the military, to perform the ser
vices of commercial communication satellites and to
carry out the diverse activities of scientists.
As a consequence, NASA has eliminated all expen
dable launch vehicles which have traditionally been
the means of launching automated (and usually expen-
dable) payloads. Now that the shuttle fleet is grounded,
all U.S. space activities likewise are grounded.
The implications are terrifying.
Not only is the orderly continuation of military
surveillance and other functions disrupted. Not only is
our ability to ferry commercial communications
satellites suspended But our dwindling planetary ex-
ploration effort has been dealt a stupendous blow with
a year or more further delay of our principal new
planetary mission — the Galileo orbiter and probe for
the planet Jupiter
Galileo originally was supposed to be launched by
the shuttle in January of 1982. Instead, it and all other
planetary missions have been delayed or canceled.
A further tragedy yet to happen looms when the
budgetary implications of these delays and reprogram-
ming efforts for both the manned and unmanned pro-
grams go to Congress for approval.
The time couldn't be worse The Gramm-Rudman
(deficit control) bill represents an abdication by both
the president and Congress to make judicious ad-
justments in the various federal programs such as are
now needed because of the Challenger tragedy.
Somehow we must collectively find the political
wisdom and capability to restructure and to respond to
the Challenger setback. We must provide timely, effi-
cient and flexible means to orbit for the full range of
automated activities which are so essential to both our
present and future.
And we must look beyond the shuttle and even the
space stations to where the manned endeavor of ex-
ploration truly leads
The president can and should let us see our way clear
to Americans reaching the surface of Mars sometime
after the turn of the century as the culmination of our
steps in space and as the final tribute to the seven
Challenger crew members
No...
Editor's note: Alex Roland is an associate professor
of history at Duke University, where he teaches
military history and the history of technology. He
worked as a historian for NASA from 1973-1981, during
the development of the shuttle spacecraft. Here is why
he thinks the shuttle program should he re-examined:
Manned flight costs more than unmanned
In addition to the people themselves, the launch vehi-
cle must lift their food and drink, their clothing and
equipment, their life support systems, the extra equip-
ment and features needed to ensure their safety and,
finally, a vehicle to return them to Earth
At $1,500 a pound, the current cost of inserting a
payload into orbit aboard the shuttle, people become
an expensive proposition indeed Added to that is the
human cost that will inevitably by paid from time to
time, as it was last week
We should send people into space only when there is a
compelling reason for them to be there The reasons
most often cited are exploration and versatility We
must continue the pioneering exploration that made
America great, and no machine can do this for us Ad-
ditionally. people can adapt to unexpected events and
they can adjust, maintain, and repair space machines
Both arguments have a grain of truth. Both have
serious limitations
The space shuttle was designed to make spaceflight
routine If it is routine, it can hardly be pioneering ex-
ploration In fact, one is hard pressed to find much
pioneering or explorat ion in the shuttle flights of recent
years It is the unmanned craft, like the Voyager that
just flew by Uranus, that are doing the most exciting
exploration a nd pioneering
As for the ability of people to adapt to the unex-
pected, this too has limited applicability We are, after
all, the country that carried off the Viking mission to
Mars In the 1970s a team of scientists and engineers
defined the parameters of life on Mars, designed and
built a spacecraft to test for it, flew the experiments to
Mars, orbited the planet, sent probes to the surface,
surveyed the vicinity of the landing, sampled the soil!
tested the samples, sent the data back to Earth, and
responded to directions from M ission Control
It is hard to imagine how people on board might have
done more or better They would have added weight,
cost and danger, but not much else. Any country that
can consummate a mission like that can perform vir-
tually any task that it wants in space with machines —
which are, in the end, extensions of ourselves.
When rational argument for manned spaceflight
fails, its advocates assert that we must push on
because the Russians — or the Europeans or the
Japanese, or the Chinese or some other once or future
adversary — is doing it Surely our mothers taught us
that just because the other boys behave foolishly is no
reason for us to do likewise
We should either find a sound rationale for manned
spaceflight or we should avoid it Russian Cosmonauts
wasting pointlessly in orbit for months on end is more
akin to flagpole-sitting than pioneering or exploration
Their versatility has not been much in evidence
One final argument for manned spaceflight is that
we must conduct experiments on the behavior of peo-
ple in space This, however, is too much like saying
that we must send people into space to learn if they can
survive should we ever find something for them to do
there The urgency of this mission is hardly compell-
ing
NASA's commitment to the shuttle — to manned
spaceflight as an end in itself — forces us to send the
simplest, most routine missions aloft on the most com-
plex and most expensive launch vehicle in the world
NASA should revive its expendable launch vehicles
and reserve the shuttle for those flights where the
presence of people in space truly justifies the cost and
the risk
L.M. Boyd
WiN bet you a small unspecified
sum you can't come up with the
middle name of any one of the
Mayflower's original Pilgrim pas-
Q. Why's the game of "soccer"
celled by that name?
A. It evolved from "association
footbeM" through "assoc" through
"soc" to "soccer."
BANDWAGON
That figurative political expres-
sion "to cNmb on the band wagon"
earns from a old practice once
quite real, particularly in the Deep
South. It was the custom for a
bond to play on a wagon through
the streets to advertise some forth-
coming meeting, political or other-
wise. Locsls who wanted to
demonstrate support for said meet-
ing would ride with the band.
Do you know a Mary Kelly? Tell
her she bears the name of the last
known victim - found dead in Lon-
don in 1888 - of Jack the Ripper.
No, don’t tell her. Too depressing.
Booker T. Washington's middle
name wasn't Toliver, but It was
pronounced that way. Was
Taliaferro.
Plato did not jog, diet or take
vitamins. Said he: "Attention tc
Other papers say
By The Associated Press
Oklahoma editorial writers last
week expressed their opinions on the
efforts of the Legislature to place the
right-to-work issue before the
voters:
The Tulsa Tribune: With the
legislative clock running, it is a good
thing that the right-to-work issue has
passed the Senate and was headed
for a House vote today. The
Legislature needs to settle the mat-
ter and move on to serious budget
problems.
The bad thing is that the
Legislature still has plenty of time to
botch the vital job of ensuring that
Oklahomans have a chance to decide
whether compulsory unionism is
what the state needs in the later
years of the 20th century.
Last week, Rep Joe Heaton, R-
Oklahoma City, moved to have a
House vote on a bill that would pro-
hibit union-management contracts
that make union membership a con
dition of employment A straight
right-to-work vote, in other words, to
enact a law which would be subject
to revision and attempted revision
every time the Legislature conven-
ed. This is the wrong way to decide
the issue.
House Speaker Jim Barker head
ed off the move, over the objections
of a small band of legislators who
apparently would rather fight than
do anything constructive toward
placing the right-to-work issue
where it belongs — as a proposed
constitutional amendment on a
special election ballot this spring, an
amendment that could be changed
only by another vote of the people
If the question makes it that far, it
will be in spite of and not because of
efforts by those right-to-work pro-
ponents with their own ideas about
the forces involved. The Oklahoma
Freedom to Work Committee has
made the hackle-raising charge that
"communist front money" would be
used by labor to fight right to work
Needless to say, labor leaders are
outraged, and right-to-work sup-
porters less inclined to shoot
themselves in the foot aren't pleased
either.
When the debate gets out of hand,
the issue itself is in danger of becom-
ing an incidental casualty. It thus
becomes crucial for Barker to hold
the House together for the vote Mon-
day. If sensible heads can prevail,
the House should go along with the
Today in History
Senate and pass a resolution calling
for a constitutional amendment.
Duncan Banner: As the battle for
right-to-work flares in the Oklahoma
House and Senate, perhaps now is
the time to review the meaning of
right to work.
It is rooted in the Taft-Hartley Act
of 1947 when Congress effectively
eliminated closed-shop agreements
under which an employer could hire
only members of a union.
However, two factors of union
security, established by the 1935 Na-
tional Labor Relations Act, remain:
the union shop and the agency shop.
A section of the act permits states
to pass laws banning the union shop
Such states now number 21 and
Oklahoma is not among them.
What does this mean to
Oklahoma?
First, right to work means that an
individual has the right to join or
support a union or has a right to
refrain from joining or supporting a
union in order to secure or keep a
job.
The absence of a right-to-work law
in Oklahoma has effectively remov-
ed the right of Oklahoma workers to
choose not to join a union in a union
shop or not to financially support a
union in an agency shop.
Second, the absence of a right-to-
work law in Oklahoma has become a
clear disadvantage to Oklahoma's
economic development efforts
because many employers will not
consider locating in a state that does
not have such a law.
The Oklahoma Department of
Economic Development estimates
that a right-to-work law is a top
priority for 30 percent to 60 percent
of its industrial prospects.
Right to work is not anti-union, it
is pro-worker and pro-economic
development From a marketing
aspect, it should be an incentive for
unions to work harder and provide
them with an opportunity to increase
their membership.
Right to work is only an extension
of the free market. For some reason
unions exhibit insecurity whenever
right to work is mentioned, perhaps
coming from the fact they feel the
need for the built-in advantages they
currently enjoy to sell their product
The product should be able to stand
on its own merit and each individual
should have the right to either ac-
cept or reject it. That’s what right to
work is all about — the freedom to
choose.
health it the greatest hindrance to
Ufa."
Other day a busy bird near Bour-
nemouth. England, took home a
lightad cigarette. Burned down hia
nest, dumb bird.
"Numerals" are one, two, three,
ao on. "Ordinals" are first, second,
third, so on. That "ordinals" is an
example of words you learn once
In school and than never use again,
uMasa you're a teacher or an edi-
tor or like that.
You know, don't you, that
you're not legally obligated to bear
the same name as your parents?
By The Associated Press
Today is Monday, Feb. 3, the 34th
day of 1986. There are 331 days left in
the year.
Today's highlight in history:
On Feb. 3, 1959, rock 'n' roll star
Buddy Holly was killed in a plane
crash in Iowa, on what came to be
called “the day the music died. ’’
On this date:
In 1680, the first paper money in
America was issued by the colony of
Massachusetts The currency was
used to pay soldiers fighting a war
against Quebec.
In 1783, Spain recognized U.S. in-
dependence.
In 1808, the territory of Illinois was
created.
In 1865, a conference aimed at en-
ding the Civil War took place aboard
the Union vessel River Queen off the
Virginia coast. The participants in-
cluded President Abraham Lincoln
and the vice president of the Con-
federacy, Alexander H. Stephens.
In 1813, the 16th Amendment,
which provides for a federal income
tax, was ratified.
In 1817, the United States broke
diplomatic relations with Germany
after the Germans announced a
policy of unrestricted submarine
warfare.
Five years ago: Polish Com-
munist Party leader Stanislaw
Kama, in his toughest speech yet,
said instigators were transforming
the independent labor federation,
Solidarity, into a political opposition
group
One year ago: Nicaraguan Presi-
dent Daniel Ortega said the Reagan
administration was turning its back
on a political settlement and was
considering the overthrow of his
government.
Today’s birthdays: Author James
Michener is 79. Sen. Paul Sarbanes,
D-Md.. is 63. Comedian Shelley Ber
man Is 80. Former quarterback
Fran Tarkenton is 46. Former
quarterback Bob Griese is 41. Singer
and guitarist Dave Davies and
singer Melanie are 38. Actress
Morgan Fairchild is 36.
Thought for today: "Life shrinks
or expands in proportion to one's
courage.” - Ana is Nin, French-
born novelist (1903-1977).
Daily Oklahoman: State
bureaucrats are joining their federal
counterparts in Washington in a
pitiful mewling about all the horrible
things that are going to happen as a
result of projected budjet cuts.
Federal program officials are is-
suing all sorts of dire warnings
designed to arouse their special-
interest constituencies dependent on
government handouts of one kind or
another.
Now the chorus is being sung at
the local level, as mayors and state
officials bemoan the impact of an
ticipated reductions in revenue shar-
ing and the multitude of federal
grants which help sustain state
administered programs.
Oklahoma's coordinator of
Legislative Federal Funds, Jerry
Garica, added to the refrain last
week by presenting the House Ap-
propriations and Budget Committee
with a list of “horror stories" about
what they can expect from spending
cuts Congress is mandated to make
by the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings
law. He said some 50 state and
municipal programs stand to lose
more than $30 million this year.
To all of this caterwauling, we say
knock it off. Any citizen with an IQ
over 50 who hasn’t been in a coma
knows the federal government is
broke and in hock up to our eyeballs.
Similarly, most Oklahomans know
that state spending must be sliced in
line with decreased tax revenues.
Many mayors and state officials
have become so addicted to having
Washington pick up part of their
operating budgets that they don’t
want to face the day of reckoning
which had to come
But while fiscal sanity is man
dated for states and cities, no such
requirement existed to check the
spending madness of Congress over
the last several decades.
While the U.S. Supreme Court
may rule on the constitutionality of
some provisions of Gramm-
Rudman-Hollings, that act at least
recognizes reality We simply can
not afford all the government which
successive Congresses have com-
mitted us - and our grandchildren
— to support.
Its detractors notwithstanding,
the law is a realistic response to a
congressional budget process that is
clearly out of control If President
Reagan will stick to his guns against
any tax increase, this could be the
year Congress is dragged kicking
and screaming into the real world
SAPlILPA DAILY HERALD
PuMmImmI by Farb Nryrapapar ,4 Sapulpa. Inc.
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Lake, Charles S. Sapulpa Daily Herald (Sapulpa, Okla.), Vol. 72, No. 121, Ed. 1 Monday, February 3, 1986, newspaper, February 3, 1986; Sapulpa, Oklahoma. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1501780/m1/4/: accessed April 25, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.