Can Someone Call A Space Taxi?
By Mike Bibb

International Space Station Cartoon Stock Illustrations – 379 International Space Station ...

Sarah Palin, former Alaska Governor and Republican vice-presidential candidate under Arizona U.S. Senator John McCain in 2008, was reputed to have jokingly said "I can see Russia from my front porch."

Actually, she couldn't, unless she hitched a ride on the International Space Station, now coasting around the planet over a dozen times a day.

Then, she could view Russia, China, Mexico, Australia, India, Europe and practically any other place on the planet. Even her own home, 230 miles below.

A Boeing Starliner capsule left Earth last June containing two astronauts who were scheduled for a 7–8-day mission.

They haven't been seen since — other than on video communications between the ISS and space control center.

Apparently, something on the spacecraft developed technical or mechanical issues, and NASA decided to return the craft to earth — without the two passengers.

Whoa, that should have been a tipoff of things to come.

Now, eight months later, the two crew members are still, along with several others, spinning endless orbits.

Maybe this is really some kind of test for a future Mars mission. Flight time to Mars is reported to take about six months to travel the 140 million miles. One way.

That is, if the launch actually takes place on the most opportune date.

I realize stuff breaks down. I see car insurance ads a dozen times a day hawking the advantages of buying their particular product "Before your car breaks down."

Guess that logic also applies to space capsules and rockets.

Only in space, there's no wrecker to call in case you become stranded.

My concern with this situation is that we have been messing around with missiles, rockets and space crafts for over fifty years. We've done the moon thing several times, flown research missions to other planets and destinations and have a pretty good idea how things are supposed to work.

However, I'm having some difficulty understanding why a couple of folks who were initially booked for a one-week mission has now turned into an eight-month cluster-fluck that NASA officials seem clueless to resolve.

I would think there would be a back-up plan in case something goes wrong.

Ships have lifeboats and wheeled vehicles have tow trucks. Communities have police, ambulances and firetrucks. Usually, there is a system in place to handle an emergency.

Within a few weeks, we've seen massive destruction from California wildfires, two horrendous plane crashes, numerous misses and a spacecraft that can't get home.

Is all this a coincidence or a steady deterioration in quality control, management and worker competence?

More importantly, are the most qualified and skilled people performing these life and death jobs, or have they been replaced by less talented and experienced individuals in order to comply with government mandated employment requirements?

I'm sure we'll find out but, in the meantime, I remained bewildered why we can't simply send another rocket and rescue craft a couple of hundred miles into the atmosphere, pick up the marooned ISS crew and bring them back to Cape Canaveral.

Hasn't someone thought of a sort of life raft in case the necessity arises to retrieve people from a broken-down ship?

Time's running out. The ISS is scheduled for deactivation in 2031. After over thirty years of service, it will gradually descend into the Earth's atmosphere, mostly burning up, with the remaining pieces crashing into the ocean.

As usual, Trump's on top of it. He called Elon to fix the problem and go get those people. "When they get back, we'll have a couple of Big Macs, fries and a Diet Coke."