I’m sorry that I am late to participate in the Disability Blog Carnival going on over at Kara’s, but I’m just not good with ifs. I decided to to repost an old post that I did on July 5, 2006. It refers to the July 4th launching of the space shuttle, Discovery, and some thoughts that I had, and still have about astronauts with disabilities. Those who know me, know that I am a nerd, and as a child, I was really into space and science. My biggest dream was to become an astronaut. Of course, if I had been able to do that, I wouldn’t have joined ADAPT and…
Some Thoughts…
I spent yesterday, the 4th of July checking out the launch of space shuttle Discovery. It was the first time ever that the shuttle had launched from Kennedy Space Center on the nation’s birthday. I watched with pride as the bird took off on the 230th birthday of the United States. I was especially proud of the two female crew members, one of whom is an African American. It reminded me of my childhood dreams of being an astronaut back in the days when neither women nor Blacks were accepted into the astronaut program.
This led me to wondering if NASA employs people with disabilities. Are there any folks with disabilities who are members of any of the many projects and teams that NASA has, or are we relegated to being merely janitors, cooks, or maybe, secretaries? I then began wondering if we ever got off of this rock, what role would people with disabilities play in this. Would we forever be left out of the important stuff? I believe that most folks with disabilities are healthy enough to withstand the rigors of spaceflight. At this point, though, I think that the only way that someone with a disability will get into space is if they are a rich tourist.
That is why I will be glad when private companies start doing regular space trips. Space travel and exploration should be for anyone who wants to go, and is healthy enough to do so, regardless of disability. It shouldn’t be just for government employees, or the super-rich. Just wait–when we have habs on the Moon, I’m going to apply as a policy analyst or an accessibility specialist. My skills and talents can be put to use anywhere, so why not the Moon, eh?
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Since that post, Discovery is once again on another mission, STS 120, and once again, Stephanie Wilson is up there making me proud to be an African American woman! Once again, I am thinking of what if people with disabilities could become astronauts or work in the space industry. Since that post, Stephen Hawking, the renowned theoretical physicist (who happens to be a person with ALS), was able to experience weightlessness. In April (or thereabouts) of this year, he took a ride on a 747 that NASA uses as a training lab so that astronauts can learn to work in microgravity. Though NASA was somewhat worried about the effect that this would have on professor Hawking, he managed quite well.
As I said before, I’m not good with ifs, but what if people with disabilities could become asronauts, or travel into space. Would the culture be different? What if NASA got over its fear and set up such a program? Would they find out that there were some things that people with disabilties could do better in microgravity, or weightlessness than nondisabled folks? What if one day, we set out on a voyage of colonization because we used up the resources of Mother Earth. Would people with disabilities be allowed to go? What if we had equal say in the governance of a new world? Would it be a better place? What if — never mind, I think I’ve gone far enough already in my ramblings!
[...] Original post by Dread [...]
i’m horrible with IFs too, couldn’t come up with a post at the time either. cool to hear your astronaut story, i wanted to be a marine biologist although looking back it wouldn’t have been the best idea since math/science is my weakness, i hate animals (shh), and don’t like water (of course a trach thing). but yeah
i read that stephen hawking was going to space, wonder what happened with that just as a disabled person..
He went up on the Vomit Comet, NASA’s training vehicle, and was up for 12 minutes, but that was suborbital. I’d heard that he might go up on one of the space shuttles, but you know, some of the scientists are scared because of his disability. I imagine because of his prestige, though, he’ll make it up there one day.