John Henry in Space

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John Henry was a steel drivin' man famed for defeating a steam-powered hammer in a contest on the C&O line in Talcott, West Virginia. His legend is a morality play of self-determination and the power of supreme focus and individual effort, but also a lesson in Phyrric victories, victories gained at irretrievable cost. John Henry died with his hammer in his hands.

I cite John Henry because of the recent crisis in the US Space program. The Shuttle is to be retired and we will have NO capability to carry a human to orbit. We will be depending upon Russian rockets to continue servicing our multi-billion dollar investment in the International Space Station. Contrast the fact that Japan, India and China have manned programs, and maybe even North Korea, too, and you see why it is incredible to me that the US has abdicated its leadership in manned space exploration. The Russians are tops in manned space exploration now, although we still maintain the lead in fancy-schmancy robotic exploration.

The competition between manned and robotic exploration has always been contentious in budget battles, and while robots have been in ascendancy since the manned lunar landing, there is no drama of exploration today greater than human versus space. There is no rescue in space. You can't float up to where the air is. You can't call Air/Sea Rescue. You are stuck with whatever you and ground support can cobble up should something go awry. Problems are even harder on the robots, as they can't cobble up anything and must depend entirely on clever ground staff, and can be brought down by simple math errors.

Image by JAMBTC via Flickr

We are a little like John Henry in that we won the Cold War Space Race, defeated the Soviet machine and died with the hammer of the Saturn V in our hands. Yes, folks, those Saturn Fives you visit in Florida and Houston are not mockups, they are REAL. They represent BILLIONS of dollars abandoned by our government. We lost the foundation of 21st century infrastructure because we did not have the stomach to pay for it, this work so important to the future of humankind, as we grow our population beyond the capabilities of the planet. The Russians are laying the rails to space now, just like the steam hammer took John Henry's job in spite of his heroic effort.

I propose that President Obama present a challenge to the nation to explore simultaneously the robotic and manned space programs. To focus attention on the challenge I suggest creating a John Henry Prize to be awarded to the team that best advances our space infrastructure. It should be awarded every two years to maintain interest in the race, and should include a tangible reward for the technical workers and astronauts. This is a jobs program I could get behind, and that could deliver long-term benefits to all of the USA, even if only by exciting the national imagination, and inspiring a generation.

The trophy could be John Henry with a Saturn V in his hands.

Image via Wikipedia