WORLD NEWS TONIGHT WITH PETER JENNINGS (07:00 PM ET) - ABC February 3, 2003
A CLOSER LOOK INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION
PETER JENNINGS, ABC NEWS
(Off Camera) Well, everything in the space program is up for debate today. We're going to take "A Closer Look" at the future of the International Space Station, now that the space shuttles are grounded in the wake of the "Columbia" disaster. The shuttles function as supply ships for the station, like trucks, a massive project that will ultimately cost $100 billion. It inspires a lot of debate, the station does. Greatest engineering feat ever undertaken, say some. A waste, say others. But the immediate question is the future of the three astronauts who are currently on the station. Here's ABC's Ned Potter.
NED POTTER, ABC NEWS
(Voice Over) Imagine what it must have been like to get the news of "Columbia" up here. Ken Bowersox, Donald Pettit and Nikolai Budarin have been on board the station since November. And as many people have said, they must be the loneliest men in the universe today. BOB CABANA,
NASA FLIGHT CREW OPERATIONS DIRECTOR
They're grieving up there, also. And they feel a little isolated.
NED POTTER
(Voice Over) They are safe, says NASA. They have food and supplies. And at all times, a Russian Soyuz spacecraft is docked to the station so they can come home in emergencies. But they were supposed to get their ride home next month on the shuttle "Atlantis." Now, nobody can imagine that happening.
CAPTAIN WILLIAM READDY, NASA ASSOCIATE ADMINISTRATOR FOR SPACE FLIGHT
They committed themselves to stay up there for however long we needed in order to get the job done.
NED POTTER
(Voice Over) But today, the pros and cons of building the station are in sharp focus.
PROFESSOR ROBERT PARK, UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND
What are we doing up there?
NED POTTER (CONTINUED)
(Voice Over) Dr. Robert Park is one of many who say the station is not the best way to spend money in space. He says it's draining funds that could go for robot ships, which do a lot more science for a lot less money.
PROFESSOR ROBERT PARK, UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND
I sincerely hope that we will cut back on the amount of resources we devote to humans in space and get on with the exploration of the solar system.
NED POTTER
(Off Camera) But other people say nonsense. They say too much effort has already been spent on the space station, and they add that it's important to world politics. It's something for Americans and Russians to work together on, in peace.
NED POTTER (CONTINUED)
(Voice Over) In a way, say some, the station becomes NASA's insurance policy. It's harder to cancel the astronaut program when there are astronauts up there.
JOHN PIKE, ABC NEWS SPACE CONSULTANT
With permanent human presence on the station and with Russians to get the crew back and forth, we can keep flying in space even though the shuttle is not.
NED POTTER
(Voice Over) And millions of Americans clearly want astronauts as heroes, just as they admired the crew of "Columbia." Ned Potter, ABC News, New York.
PETER JENNINGS
(Off Camera) We'll be back with more news in a moment. Another glimpse of the astronauts on board "Columbia."
WILLIAM MCCOOL, PILOT
In my most enjoyable experiences, are going out with my wife and my boys, back country, backpacking in the Olympic mountains. They're something that I look forward to doing in the future when we get done with this mission.
ILAN RAMON, PAYLOAD SPECIALIST
My mother is a Holocaust survivor. And when you talk to these people who are pretty old today, and you tell them that you're going to be in space as an Israeli astronaut, they look at you as a dream that they could have never dreamed of.
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Copyright © 2003, American Broadcasting Companies, Inc.
