News Story

Although he understands the financial reasons for the end of America’s Space Shuttle program, former astronaut Steven Alan Hawley thinks there are some things about the Shuttle we’re going to miss.

Hawley, who logged more than 770 hours on five Shuttle flights, talked about the legacy of the Shuttle in a public lecture at Pittsburg State University on Wednesday, Feb. 8. Hawley’s talk was part of the 2012 Physics, Mathematics and Engineering Lecture Series at PSU.

“I think we will miss the capability of the Shuttle, particularly as we pay the Russians $62 million for a seat on the (International) Space Station,” Hawley said.

Hawley, who grew up in Salina, Kan., earned bachelor of arts degrees in physics and astronomy from the University of Kansas in 1973. He earned a doctorate in astronomy and astrophysics from the University of California-Santa Cruz in 1977. In 1978, he was among the first group selected by NASA for its Space Shuttle program.

Hawley’s first Space Shuttle flight was in 1984 on the maiden flight of the Shuttle Discovery. His final flight was on Columbia in 1999, which deployed the Chandra X-ray Observatory.

Before a standing-room-only audience at PSU, Hawley talked about the history of the Shuttle program and the enormous engineering challenges it presented. He described some of the unique characteristics of the shuttle including its precision, its capability of returning materials to Earth from space, its ability to fly routinely at hypersonic speeds and its reusability.

Despite its many outstanding characteristics, Hawley said, the Shuttle never fulfilled its promise of frequent and economical space flight.

“The promise was never realized,” he said. “The early predictions were 60-75 flights a year, but most engineers never believed that was possible.”

Hawley said no one anticipated the extent of the maintenance that was required between flights and its mounting cost.

Of his five flights, Hawley said, he is most proud of his work both in initially deploying the Hubble Telescope and in a repair mission to the telescope three years later.

Today, Hawley is a professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Kansas and is teaching a new generation of astronomers and physicists, many who were inspired as children by images of the Space Shuttle blasting off into space.

“The Shuttle inspired a generation of youngsters,” Hawley said. “A lot of kids were brought into science and engineering because of the Shuttle program.”

Now that the Shuttle program has ended and Americans headed for the International Space Station must hitch rides on the Soyuz. Hawley wonders what will inspire today’s youngsters.

“You don’t need everybody to go into the space program,” Hawley said, “but the more kids you bring into science and engineering, that’s going to be good for everybody.”