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CounterPunch
February
3, 2003
That's Entertaiment
Watching the
Fragments Fall
by JAMES DAVIS
The space shuttle Columbia is 12 minutes late,
so the CBS correspondent reports seriously from Florida. He explains,
with the aid of a model, how the shuttle enters the atmosphere
at a very particular angle and that a couple of degrees this
way or that would spell, well, disaster. It is a little after
9am and none of the TV people will come out with it. The space
expert with the toy shuttle insists that there is no going back,
that the vehicle resembles a gliding brick and that 12 minutes
late, once it enters the atmosphere, means never. The early morning
Saturday anchor man, who on a normal shift would be introducing
children's cartoons about now, resembles someone packing a knife
who has just realized he's in the middle of a gunfight. Painfully
overwhelmed he repeatedly gaffes the gliding brick metaphor.
Our man in Houston corrects him. 'Not a floating brick, a gliding
brick.' In the background the NASA announcer directs the Houston
personnel to lockdown and save all the info on their computers.
It seems the mission is over.
Dan Rather appears wearing a distinctly
black suit. We run through the gliding brick story again and
the old hand assumes a September 11th tone. He has Buzz Aldren
on the line, Dan presses him for escape capsules and exit strategies.
Buzz, not shy about mentioning his aerospace company, dismisses
all hope but promotes his own design for just such a capsule
which he suggests is the only thing that might have saved the
crew. Rather, teary eyed, prefers not to register Aldren's pessimism
and continues with talk of parachutes and pressure suits. But
the game is up when the home video starts rolling, explosions
and disintegration as one shuttle becomes 2, 3 and so on. It's
clear that as a younger man Rather dreamt of becoming an astronaut
and is deeply affected by the disaster, cracking as he repeats
in a voice brittle with sorrow and disbelief, `Brave astronauts.
Brave, Brave astronauts'. Most other announcers settle for grace
under pressure, solemnity and the rapid decent into patriotism.
Dan is gray faced when recalling JFK's catch up to the Soviets
and somber when grilling a space policy expert as to whether
this will represent a real setback to putting an American on
Mars.
* Like so many of us I always dreamed
of seeing an American on Mars someday, Is that dream dead now?
* For various reasons, the cost of a
manned flight, the lift necessary for a life support system of
that duration, the duration itself, that was just never in
the offing.
* Well, I for one will continue to dream
of that day.
While NASA issue announcements warning
the public not to touch debris from the space ship they have
still not informed us that the Columbia is lost. It is 11am by
the time they lower the flag at the landing site to half-mast
by which time tv footage of wreckage strewn across the South
East is going around the world. Yet NASA have still made no reference
to the Columbia which has yet to arrive. Hours earlier the families
of the astronauts, excitedly gathered by the runway, had been
whisked to 'a secure location'.
Back on CBS Rather, a hint of vitriol
and steel in his eye, reports that in Baghdad they are calling
this Allah's revenge on America. He promptly introduces the Israeli
ambassador, Danny Ayalon. One of the doomed astronauts was an
Israeli air force pilot, a veteran of the '73 war, the invasion
of Lebanon , part of the unit that bombed an Iraqi nuclear facility
in the early 80's and the first Israeli in space. The ambassador
recalls that the international community was unhappy about the
Iraqi business at the time, though it is now regarded as somewhat
avant-garde. The moment passes. For some reason he continues,
"when you look at the Intifada and see the bodies strewn
across the streets.." before going on to observe, "two
nations, free and democratic, exploring the frontier" Rather
is nodding solemnly as the ambassador informs us that the fallen
war hero "carried a picture by a little boy who died in
the Nazi concentration camps."
The ambassador disappears and Rather
announces that he has in his hand the last exchange between the
Columbia and Houston. After a pause he begins, "Columbia
Houston Columbia Houston and then just before the communications
went down a word beginning with, Bla-a". Horrifying stuff.
President Bush has returned from Camp
David to the White House on learning the news. He addresses the
nation. The space program will continue, the dead are heroes
and by way of reminder, "It is easy to underestimate the
dangers of travel by rocket". Then, perhaps subconsciously
responding to the Baghdad admonitions he adds that, "the
same creator who named the stars knows the names of the 7 souls."
Having postponed their press conference
already NASA finally meets the press at 2pm, Dan Rather is understanding
and by implication, so must we be. Alas the 2pm conference is
question free, understandable considering the nations loss. The
man from NASA is properly quavering, and succeeds admirably in
disciplining the 5th estate to keep inquiries intended for the
press conference later in the day (this one with questions) in
tune with the emotional requirements of the 'tragedy', initially
referred to as the 'problem'.
Dan Rather is a little jollier back in
the studio. He happily reports that FEMA and the office of Homeland
Security are involved in securing the South East and the cavalry
are to be dispatched from Fort Hood to assist in gathering the
parts that remain of the Columbia. Pictures of cop cars triangled
with crime scene tape between them sealing off a small piece
of metal on a lonely highway make us all feel better. No doubt
there are those who would offer parts for sale on eBay were it
not for Ridge, FEMA, the cavalry and the highway patrol. We also
learn that the ever suspect Cheney was bird hunting in Texas
when the Columbia went down, in Texas. This revelation is like
the first time I heard George Bush senior was in Dallas the day
Kennedy died.
Excitement builds as the NASA press conference
with questions approaches. Rather is not doing much to pump the
audience but citizens everywhere look forward to NASA defending
the dismal safety record of the Shuttle. Of the 6 manufactured
2 (33%) have crashed and burned claiming 14 heroes, the first
woman and Israeli in space among them. Put another way, of the
113 flights undertaken 2 have ended in disaster, an operational
record announcing an almost 2% failure rate. NASA uses the shuttle
as a PR vehicle. Most if not all of the operations carried out
could be accomplished splendidly by robots, but the spectacular
publicity of John Glenn, school teachers, African Americans and
Israelis in space is far more sexy than the reality, which is
the installation and maintenance of TV satellites and GPS systems
for yuppies driving humvies. Considering the shuttle is more
famous for its Ozone research than its Ozone depletion, inevitably
someone will challenge the sense of this multi billion dollar
Ozone/astronaut killer at the press conference with serious questions.
For the journalists present their colleague Peter Bunyard has
already crunched the numbers in the Ecologist magazine.
"Every Space Shuttle flight discharges
ten or more tonnes of hydrogen, which, at an altitude of 300
kilometers, forms a cloud that can spread horizontally over several
thousand kilometers and hydrogen, like chlorine, is a destroyer
of ozone."
The time come the man from NASA presents
himself to the assembled, the first question is from a
network lady. "For those who don't live around here, in
this area, can you tell us what this has meant to this close
knit community around the shuttle?" The man from NASA takes
it pretty well, and though shaken, answers the question to polite
uhms and ahs from the congregation. Next up a burly tough from
another network. "Does the training go on?" The man
from NASA begins this one with a childhood story about himself
and one of the fallen. They went to the same school and, though
some years apart, had that in common. This is degenerating from
tragedy to farce with the multi billion (tax) dollar corporation
literally dancing on the graves of the dead, applauded by the
network functionaries. His response is resolute in its cynicism,
"We'll get together, hug each other, comfort each other,
help each other and yes, we'll go on".
James Davis
was born in Ireland, lives in New York, where he makes films.
He can be reached at: jamesdavisfilm@hotmail.com
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February
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