NASA astronaut Greg Chamitoff, who was a mission specialist on the last flight of the Space Shuttle Endeavour, shared the experience with a local audience earlier this week.
In Sydney to deliver the Dean's International Lecture at the University of Sydney, Chamitoff also pondered the next stages in space exploration.
"This is a difficult time right now because the Shuttle program has ended and we don't have a replacement vehicle," he said. "The plan back in 2004 was that we would retire the Shuttle and build a new vehicle which was supposed to go to the moon and Mars.
"But those two paths just got disconnected. We didn't get the resources to develop a vehicle and there were some delays and eventually a committee reported that it was all costing too much, there were some problems and it probably wasn't the best way to go. No-one faults the committe for that view, it was sensible, but the problem was the Shuttle retirement wasn't coordinated with anything any more.
"Unfortunately the media talks about the end of the Shuttle being the end of the space program, but that's simply not the case. We have this million pound space craft in orbit that all these countries are working together to support now. We are going to have to get there using the Russian vehicles.
"But meanwhile, a lot of the NASA resources are being directed to the private sector to try to build private space craft. A few companies are getting close to being able to at least provide cargo from the US, possibly by November this year. That is supposed to lead to a crew-carrying vehicle in three to five years.
"Then there's the question of a heavy-lift vehicle. NASA and contractors were ready to build the next generation of heavy-lift vehicles that can get us out of lower earth orbit, which the Shuttle can't do. If we don't get a decision on heavy-left in the next year or so we are going to lose a lot of talent. That's what we are really afraid of right now, losing the skills and talent of literally thousands of people around the country.
"So we're looking to the private sector to get us to lower earth orbit, but that's not going to get us to the moon. There are new things coming and hopefully those new things will give us capabilities we didn't have up until now.
"There's a lot to be excited about because the plan is to go beyond lower earth orbit. That's why we are doing what we're doing, that's why we're stopping the Shuttle, so we can spend the money on going beyond lower earth orbit.
"It's appropriate for private entities to be working towards making lower earth orbit feasible and profitable because that's what's going to make the boom, with an explosion of people being able to go into space and profit from space. Whether it's for energy, for resources, it's the private sector that's going to make it possible for lots of people to have access to space."
That all makes sense and it does indeed appear to be trending that way. Though there doesn't seem to be much happening in Australia to take advantage of the business opportunities that must accompany such private sector growth in the space industry.
Sydney University intends to make Chamitoff's presentation available
as a podcast, if you'd like to hear more about that last Shuttle
mission. It's well worth the effort.
This story was first published on www.aviationbusiness.com.au, the website of our sister publication Aviation Business Asia Pacific.