X37B

X37B

This past Saturday a very short article appeared in our Chattanooga Times Free Press, page A4, 5^th column

“Unmanned U.S. Spacecraft Returns After 7-Month Trip”.

Seven months ago the DoD lunched the very first unmanned spacecraft to fly outside the Earth’s atmosphere.  The X37B slipped out of orbit and landed safely at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California this past Friday.  The stubby-winged robotic aircraft began re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere and landed successfully at 0116 hrs PST (Pacific Standard Time).  The mission was secret and the “official” purpose was to test the aircraft itself.  I was born at night but not last night consequently, I suspect there was more to the voyage than we need to know.

My comments do not address the secrecy of the mission but the marvelous engineering that made this mission a resounding success.  Can you imagine the remarkable complexity such an endeavor would bring?  I was a lowly Captain in the USAF Logistics Command and worked on the missile that fired the Gemini crews so I have an appreciation for the split-second timing and planning that must be accomplished for success.  I know that all engineering disciplines had to be in play to bring this project to completion.  Mechanical, electrical, civil, engineering physics, etc etc—all were needed and used.   I am also amazed that communications were maintained throughout the entire seven months—ASTOUNDING!!!     I can’t walk from my front porch to the mail box without my cell phone dropping out fifteen times.  ( DoD must not use Virgin Mobile. )

 It takes smart, trained, energized, optimistic, hard-working engineers and scientists to pull something like this off.  You don’t make this happen with high school drop-outs.  Drop-outs will not find themselves as members of a DoD or NASA team. You are not allowed to write code that would affect trajectory and a flight plaths with merely a high school degree and certainly not as a drop-out.   It is a national tragedy that approximately 30 % of high school students choose to drop out before graduation.

I think what we have just witnessed is a forecast of things to come.  “The Rise of the Machines”—OK, maybe not but, more unmanned flights-definitely!  The technology involved and project management are just stunning. I think we need to keep this story alive so high school students, and even grammar school students, realize that engineering is a most exciting profession and there are still jobs available—even in our country.  The best is yet to come.