“CONGRATULATIONS to America – this has been an amazing two days,” NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine said on 31 May, as two astronauts arrived on the International Space Station. They had launched the day before, carried into orbit by a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule.
The launch was a major milestone for US space flight (see NASA and SpaceX launch astronauts into new era of private spaceflight), but many people in the US weren’t in the mood for either congratulations or celebrations. The evening after Bridenstine’s remarks, nationwide protests against police brutality and racism continued in the wake of the homicide of George Floyd, who died after a police officer pinned him to the ground by his neck.
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As the US coronavirus death toll exceeded 100,000 people, hospitals had to treat both those with covid-19 and protesters hit with pepper spray and rubber bullets. US president Donald Trump was reportedly moved to a White House bunker normally reserved for terrorist attacks.
The dichotomy evokes the 1970 poem Whitey on the Moon by Gil Scott-Heron, about the neglect and oppression suffered by African Americans while the US government spent its money sending white Americans into space. At that time, many people in the US felt similarly about the Apollo programme – why go to the moon with so many problems to solve right here on Earth?
“Hospitals had to treat both those with covid-19 and protesters hit with pepper spray and rubber bullets”
The question remains a good one. On top of our long-term problems, such as climate change, inequality and systemic racism, we are in the midst of a pandemic in which 6.3 million people have been infected with a coronavirus that we cannot yet treat or vaccinate against – and that figure is likely to be a significant underestimate.
Now, as then, though, it is important we keep looking to the stars. The SpaceX launch, watched by millions, was a big achievement. The astronauts, floating around in microgravity, are doing science that will surely pave our way to the moon and beyond. We cannot know where our forays into space will ultimately take us, but such endeavours show what humanity can do when we pull together to achieve something big – an approach we must emulate if we want to fix the more worldly problems we face.
