ISS: Untapped Potential

Keep ISS Alive, Rick Tumlinson, Space Frontier Foundation

“As I write this Americans and Russians are circling overhead in a space station I opposed. The international space station (ISS) cost too much, is imperfect, too complex, in a bad orbit and I am told it smells funny. But it is there. Now I hear some want to throw it away. The folks gave us almost $100 billion to build it, and I don’t think they would like that. It holds air, has power and is made of tons of processed high-value material that if it isn’t up there already, someday someone else would have to carry it up or manufacture it. Once before I and others tried to save a cast-off toy from our childhood in space called Mir. We were too late, and faced too much opposition from those who wanted a shiny new toy. Now we have it. This time we have the time to make it useful. Let’s do it.”