Where Creativity Once Was King

Regular readers of this blog know I have digital cable – literally over 500-channels, and still there are times when there is nothing on.

Can’t fault the cable companies though, they do try to keep things interesting by constantly adding channels to the line-up.

Being an amateur astronomer, I was excited to see the new NASA TV channel – which is currently on free preview.

This channel came online just as the Space Shuttle was flying a mission to the International Space Station. It was really amazing to see live video broadcast directly from the shuttle, the space station and mission control down here on planet Earth.

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I watched as astronauts aboard the shuttle shifted the massive Canadian-built Space Arm to repair a satellite. I witnessed the live docking of the shuttle to the space station, and the warm greeting the astronauts gave each other upon opening the hatch, as they floated in space.

One of the most memorable images is that of Earth from space, as I saw a live video feed taken from the shuttle orbiting our blue-green planet. This was absolutely awe inspiring.

But when the astronauts are writing reports, conducting routine systems checks, or even just sleeping, the NASA TV channel quickly became just another pointless station on the dial. The images kept switching between mission control, and the shuttle, but there wasn’t anything going on – unless you enjoy watching people sitting behind computers typing.

The universe is a big place –there’s an understatement if there ever was one – the universe is MEGA HUGE. With the whole universe as its playground, you’d think the rocket scientists at NASA could create some interesting content for their TV channel.

NASA is the only organization to ever put a human on the moon, to land anything – even though they were robotic rovers – on Mars, and to successfully send probes into deep space and receive images and other scientific data from these probes – just to name a few of the National Aeronautic Space Agency’s (NASA) accomplishments.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to program a television station. With the amount of cool – and literally out of this planet – things NASA has accomplished, they should have no trouble airing interesting content that captivates the imaginations of those who may not have ever thought about astronomy, space exploration, or the any of the sciences.

Instead, for the most part the NASA TV channel is really dull. The “wow” factor of realizing the images are being beamed live from beyond our planet only lasts for a handful of minutes. Then the boredom of watching an astronaut reading in space sinks in, and you wonder who will ever pay for this channel?

That’s where the real problem will be, when this channel isn’t a free preview. Cable and satellite providers often place new channels on “free preview” for an introductory period, to generate interest in the channel, and get you to sign up for a subscription.

They are hoping you become addicted to a series on that station so much so, that you’ll gladly pay for a subscription.

But if the channel isn’t all that interesting, few subscribe to it, and it either is removed from the channel line-up, or becomes part of the regular subscription pack.

Take Teletoon Retro for a good example – a channel which shows old cartoons all day and all night. This channel was available to me as a free preview for over a year, and recently was added to my digital cable package free.

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I enjoyed tuning in when it was on free preview, to watch some classic cartoons – like The Flinstones, The Jetsons, and Bugs Bunny and Friends. But I would never actually pay for this service – it isn’t something I’d watch often enough to justify the cost.

That kind of reasoning, or many others I’m sure, probably deterred people from subscribing to the channel. That’s why it was available for over a year – usually free previews are just that – a preview available for a limited time. And it is also why the channel is now part of my regular channel line-up. There simply weren’t enough subscribers to pay for the channel, so the cable company tossed it into the regular digital package.

Maybe the lack of creative ingenuity which is hitting the movie industry is also affecting television? With all the sequels, prequels and re-makes on the big screen, it appears no one has any original, interesting ideas anymore. Movies cost more, thanks to bigger movie theatres with higher quality picture and sound systems, but movies themselves are no better written – in fact they are

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usually scripted far worse than previously.

Those creative geniuses bringing us new television channels, and shows on those channels must be suffering the same creative drought, if channels like NASA TV and Teletoon Retro are any indication.

And that’s really too bad, because of all the industries where creativity is king – television is supposed to rule.

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Moon Walk Hits Big Four-Oh

Forty-years-ago today, American astronaut Neil Armstrong climbed out of the Lunar Module, and as his feet hit the surface of the moon, proudly declared: “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”

It was the summer of 1969, and Armstrong’s landing on the moon was a knock-out punch by the American’s against the Russians in the space race. Earlier, the Russians had held the lead, by putting their Sputnik spacecraft into orbit.

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The space race has fizzled, and become a joint-venture of sorts, as countries across the globe work together to better space exploration. Canadian astronauts have gone up on Space Shuttle missions – there are two in space now on one.
Several countries have partnered to build the International Space Station. And without good working relations among the nations of the world, we wouldn’t have the high tech global telecommunications systems which we enjoy, allowing us to place voice, video, data and text calls from Dildo, Newfoundland & Labrador, Canada (yes that place exists), to Twatt, Scotland (that place exists too).

Still, forty-years after NASA put a man on the moon, we have yet to really better that achievement. Yes, the Space Shuttles are far more advanced than the rocket ship which propelled Armstrong to our closest orbiting body, but we have yet to venture back to the moon, or the other celestial bodies within our solar system.

Humans have sent robotic rovers to Mars, and satellites far beyond our solar system. These have given us a glimpse into what lies beyond our cozy atmospheric-creature-comfort planet Earth. But despite that initial knock-out punch, man (or woman) have never set foot on any other land mass outside since.

NASA is working on it – they have announced plans to go to the moon by 2020, and establish a lunar base capable of sustaining living conditions for six-months on the moon by 2025. This would allow astronauts to build a home from which to study the terrain and working conditions in space, to prepare for trips beyond the moon.

That trip beyond the moon could very well be Mars.

A trip to the red planet would take six-months, as Mars is over 30-million miles away from Earth. The moon is a great way to test the technologies needed to get humans that far out into space, and to establishing actual home-bases from which to work.

Makes sense, if it takes you six-months to get someplace, you don’t want to just do a quick hop-skip and jump on the surface, then turn around and spend another six-months coming back. You want to stay, look around, and explore the unknown.

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Although it’s been so long since human beings walked on the moon, NASA is taking the trek to the moon and later Mars seriously. Last month, the American space agency launched their Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, an unmanned spacecraft to find potential landing sites based on moon surface resources.
Currently, NASA is investigating the moon’s south pole, because of the possibility of water ice, which could be used by the astronauts living there for drinking, or as a source of oxygen and hydrogen for air and fuel.

Once astronauts have conquered the living conditions on the moon, in theory, they would be better prepared for a mission to Mars.

Big plans, but riddled with a big hole. Just next year, NASA is retiring the Space Shuttle fleet, and their new rocket ship – the Orion – won’t be ready for another five-years. That means American astronauts – and presumably Canadian ones as well – will have to depend on Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft to

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get to the International Space Station, and other out-of-this-world places.

"Relying on the Russians between when we're retiring the shuttle and having the Constellation program flying is something that I'm not very proud of," said former Kennedy Space Center Director Bob Crippen, who piloted the first space shuttle mission in 1981.

Crippen, and many others feel it is great to be partners in space explora

tion with Russia and other countries, but it isn’t good to be totally dependent on another country’s spacecraft to get you to where you want to go.

Crippen has argued that the Space Shuttles could fly safely until the Orion – or some other NASA vehicle – is ready, but NASA says it is more about money than safety. They simply don’t have the money to continue the shuttle program while developing other space technologies.

It’s been forty-years since man has walked on the moon, so it probably won’t hurt us any if we have to wait a few more years. Still, putting a space colony on the moon won’t be nearly as exciting as putting one on Mars, which will take even more time to achieve. But both will be well worth the wait.

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Shuttle Sabotage? NASA Investigating

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Bitter employees, willing to do whatever it takes to send their message of anger and hate abound in many offices these days – but who would have ever thought that rocket scientists – the guys that put a man on the moon – could stoop to such levels?

No one knows if a rocket scientist, or anyone else working for the National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA) in the States is to blame for the two delays of the Space Shuttle Endeavour this month – but they are investigating the possibility, in addition to the technical faults.

With NASA’s finalization of the final Shuttle missions, as the aging fleet of spacecraft is being retired in 2010, fear, anger and frustration are to be expected. The final Space Shuttle mission is currently set for May 25, 2010.

Almost everyone fears change – that’s just a normal part of being human. And big changes are coming to an organization which has been known for its unwavering, highly structured mentality.

As the fleet of Space Shuttles is retired, by its own estimates, NASA will be shedding between 3,000 to 4,000 jobs at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. In this economy, even a handful of job losses could easily push even a model employee over the brink.

It isn’t uncommon for good employees to go sour during periods of transition in a company or organization. We’ve all heard about the story about the person caught on the security camera, urinating in the coffee maker at the office because he didn’t get his promotion. But there are many other stories of corruption within the workplace, some far more reaching.

Like the vice-president of a telecommunications company that leaked a change in the company’s direction, causing the stock price to tumble so quickly, the company never recovered, and it had to file for bankruptcy protection.

Sabotage at NASA is rare, but has happened in the past. In 2007, a subcontractor intentionally cut wires on a computer box on a Space Shuttle Endeavour mission, but the fault was found and corrected without affecting the flight.

NASA will begin laying off employees after the final Shuttle mission. But with each delayed launch, that final mission gets extended. This leaves the space agency open to possible internal attacks, as those concerned for their financial well-being do what they feel is necessary, to keep a pay cheque coming in.

NASA top-brass have been very vocal over rumours about sabotage by their own staff. Space Shuttle Deputy Program Manager LeRoy Cain said they trust their own people and do not think anyone on any Shuttle mission would do anything which would hamper the flight of the space craft, during his briefing after the second delay of the Space Shuttle Endeavour.

Still, the cause of the hydrogen fuel leaks which have grounded the Space Shuttle Endeavour remains a mystery, and will keep the Shuttle on the ground at least until July 11, as NASA investigates the cause.

NASA expects to find a technical fault, but as they edge ever closer to retiring the Shuttle program, moving to the new Orion space craft which is still in the testing stages, and handing out pink-slips to thousands of employees, everything – and one – are suspect.

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