Digital Sprocket

Space Shuttle flight STS-115 landed safely today in the early pre-dawn hours after completing the first full-fledged ISS construction mission since the Columbia accident. The newly installed solar panels will double the power available to the station, but not until the next shuttle flight competes a major rewiring job. The additional solar wing also increases the brightness of the station to the point where it may well compete with Venus as the third brightest object in the sky.

In the post-landing press conference, NASA Administrator Mike Griffin commented that the International Space Station is our greatest engineering feat to date. This was imbedded in his response to a question about why we should complete the project. In essence, he said we should build it because it’s impressive. This got me thinking about the Apollo lunar program. Many of its critics called it a “Moondoggle”, and said it was no more useful than the Egyptian Pyramids. Thy Pyramids are certainly impressive, but they don’t really serve any purpose do they?

I beg to differ. Every civilization builds monumental architecture of some kind. Whether it’s Mayan pyramids or Gothic cathedrals, Roman coliseums or football stadiums, every society participates in building these massive things that tax the society’s political and technological resources. Apollo was one such project, and so is the International Space Station. Why do we keep building these things? What is their purpose? In most cases, the number of people who use the monument is much lower than the people who contribute to its construction, whether by providing slave labor or income taxes. Few of us can afford the $20 million price tag and six-month training program to visit the ISS.

Still we do get something out of these massive projects. I’m not talking about spin-offs, although Tang and MRI’s are quite nice. Monumental undertakings contribute to a sense of cultural identity and national pride, and they do so in peaceful way. Just look around the world today and it becomes obvious that the easiest way to build group identity and/or national pride is to pick an enemy and go after them. Take on the Kurds, the Jews, Tutsis, or any other recognizable group and you will quickly rally support to your cause. It’s much harder to find ways of building group identity and pride that don’t lead towards violence and hatred.

Building monumental architecture is one such path. Every French peasant, craftsman, and guild that gave alms to help build the Notre Dam Cathedral could look up at those spires and proudly proclaim, “I helped build that. It’s mine.” All of his fellow Parisians could and did say the same thing, and thus with a pride he shared with his neighbors, he strengthened his bonds with them. Apollo had the same effect. When Americans saw Armstrong and Aldrin land on the moon, they shared a moment of collective pride in what we can accomplish.

The International Space Station is doing the same thing today. The ISS may not seam as important here in the US, but you can bet the other international partners are anxiously awaiting the installation of their components. Even in the midst of the worst economic crises in Russia following the Soviet collapse, Russians still prided themselves on keeping Mir in orbit, even if it meant shooting commercials and selling time to researchers abroad. Today they are our full partners in the ISS. If anyone had lingering doubts about the equality of our relationship, they have been shattered in the wake of the Columbia accident. The Italian build MPLM cargo pods have demonstrated Italian technical prowess while Canada Arm II is unsurpassed capabilities. The EU and Japan both have modules sitting at the Cape waiting for a shuttle to fly them up to the ISS. When these are finally installed, Japan and the EU will join the other partners in displaying their joint pride in this accomplishment.

Didn’t I state earlier that monumental construction projects help define a nation and build national pride? What happens when multiple nations band together to jointly engage in just such an enterprise? I’m not sure, but I think it’s a step in the right direction.