Nothing Routine for Space ShuttleEndeavour lifted off last Monday in a near-perfect launch, the next-to-the last for the 30-year-old space shuttle program. The last flight, Atlantis, is scheduled for July. Over the decades since President Dwight Eisenhower signed the Space Act, officially creating the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in 1958, NASA has been about more than sending man into space. The law stipulated that "its research and advancements should benefit all people," according to Discovery.com. And it has. NASA has filed more than 6,300 patents with the United States government and, each year since 1976, has published a list of innovations that have led to products we all use every day, including improvements for our health (modern pacemakers and exercise machines) and our entertainment (satellite radio). Other everyday inventions include: invisible braces, scratch-resistant lenses, memory foam, ear thermometer, shoe insoles, long-distance telecommunications, adjustable smoke detectors, safety grooves on roads and at airports, cordless tools and water filters. What was once an event for which time was set aside in the school day for students to watch on television, and which sent millions to their own radios and televisions at home, has become routine. At least that's the way some of us look at space missions today. But how can the words "routine" and "space missions" even co-exist within the same phrase? What NASA and its various flights have done more than anything else is keep us dreaming of what could be, what tomorrow could bring and how man can improve life on earth by continuing to search the sky for concepts and innovations that — for now — remain beyond his understanding. When NASA marked the 50th anniversary of human space flight earlier this month, NASA administrator Charles Bolden said that Alan B.
"When Alan Shepard launched toward the stars that day, no American had ever done so, and the world waited on pins and needles praying for a good outcome. The flight was a great success," Bolden said "I was a teenager at the time and just sorting out the field of study I wanted to pursue. Though I never dared dream it growing up in segregated South Carolina, I was proud to follow in Alan's footsteps several years later and become a test pilot myself. ... The inspiration that has created generations of leaders to enlarge our understanding of our universe and to strive toward the highest in human potential was sparked by those early achievements of our space program." Through space exploration we have learned not just about how to make life on earth better, but we have also reaffirmed our nation's penchant for looking beyond the ordinary, reaching toward what is beyond our touch and learning about that which is outside of our ken. Space travel may have become more a part of daily life, but it will never be routine. How could it be? REPRINTED FROM THE JACKSONVILLE DAILY NEWS DISTRIBUTED BY CREATORS.COM
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