SPACE FLIGHT

The space shuttle Atlantis is currently on its last flight to the International Space Station. When it returns to Earth sometime tomorrow, the machine will be retired, and NASA's manned space programme will be over. Humans will still go into space, either to visit the space station or in the form of low altitude space tourism. But the kind of high profile programme pioneered by the Americans will be at an end.

This will disappoint those who think that we should be pressing on with planning for a manned mission to Mars, but I for one will not be shedding any tears. Space travel is incredibly expensive, one of those big-ticket science projects (like CERN) that swallow up vast amounts of cash. And although there have been practical benefits from the space programme, such as the invention of teflon, if you wanted to invent teflon from scratch, you wouldn't do it by way of a space programme.

The biggest benefit of the space programme has been the sense of achievement for humanity, the "yes, we can do this" factor. Even there, though, the highlight of space flight was getting people to the moon (and the absolute peak Apollo 13, the one where they didn't get there); and that was 40 years ago. It was a tough decision to can the space programme, as "boys with toys" can be politically very persuasive. But there are much more pressing scientific problems here on Earth that require public funding.  

Walter Blotscher