The Earth from space. (credit: NASA)

My suborbital life, part 7: Of risk and reward

by Alan Stern
Thursday, November 2, 2023

My reflections for today, launch day, are on risk and reward.

In my view, both are integral parts of what it means to be human. Risk and reward are also sides of a single coin comes up in so many ways across the days of our lives.

Like the risks of a one-shot flyby of Pluto that the New Horizons team pulled off so successfully, and the submersible journey I took to the Titanic, today’s expedition will be risky. But it will also full of promise.

The risks of spaceflight are well established to be low, and Virgin Galactic’s space vehicles are much more highly regulated and are much safer than the Titanic dive I was involved in. I would not participate if they were not. But the risks are still non-zero, and higher than other activities I’ve undertaken in my career, including years of flying of nighttime F-18 Hornet missions aboard ejection seats, and a month-long research mission done at South Pole station in Antarctica.

As least for me, it’s always a little sobering to take deliberate risks. But I’ll do that today, as I have in the past, because the risks of this flight are so well worth the rewards. On this mission, I expect to contribute to the commercial opening of space, to the new and powerful future for human suborbital research missions, for science, to bring back experiences to share, and to be able afterwards to inspire others to greater accomplishments than my own.

If today goes poorly, you will read about it in the news. If that actually materializes, know that it was worth it to me to take those risks, as so many before me who took very much greater risks for other rewards in the exploration of our planet and space, in service to their country during war, and in countless other endeavors that have contributed to the ascending trajectory of our species and our society.

Now, to get some rest, before I drink in every moment of the special opportunity to contribute in new ways to space flight, up close and personal!

Ever onward, ad astra!

Alan Stern is a planetary scientist and aerospace executive. He is a former NASA Associate Administrator for Science, and a former board chair of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation. He has now been a part of 30 NASA, ESA, and commercial spaceflight flight mission teams, 15 of those as mission or instrument Principal Investigator, including the almost $1 billion New Horizons mission to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt.

Note: we are using a new commenting system, which may require you to create a new account.

Home