Those who infer from stories about the recent problems and dangers in space flight that Americans ought not be allowed to fly on the Russian Mir space station are being short-sighted.
First, the main purpose of a space station is to teach us how to live and work in space. That means how to cope when things unexpectedly go wrong–just as they go wrong down on Earth. In a way, we are lucky to have a chance to deal with an “old” structure and this recent string of near emergencies; we will learn more from these experiences than from a hundred speculative simulations.
Second, there is “safe” and “safer.” For example: That European pharmaceutical drug-testing procedures are less stringent than those of the U.S. does not mean that their drugs are not safe. Nor do we insist our citizens drive tanks rather than our existing less-safe cars, which kill thousands. We always make reasonable tradeoffs between efficiency and safety. That Mir could be “safer” does not mean it is not reasonably safe. And remember, two of the three biggest problems were caused by simple “human error,” which could have happened on the best-built station.
Third, space is inherently risky, but that has never been a deterrent to Americans. Bridges and large buildings “budget” for a certain number of deaths per construction project–because accidents do happen–but we still build them. If “sure thing” safety standards prevailed 150 years ago, the covered wagons and their pioneering occupants would never have been allowed to leave the East. A lot of people never made it all the way to California.
Americans have always been willing to take calculated risks when the goals were worth it. Space, our future, is worth it, and this new wave of timidity should not be allowed to shackle the American spirit.
