14, October 1997

     On this morning, the skies over Edwards Air Force Base in California's Mohave Desert were shattered by the now, all-too-familiar double-crack of a sonic boom. Not too spectacular. It would have been just another day in the life of an F-15 pilot, except perhaps for the occasion, and maybe the pilot.

     You see, this was a celebration, of sorts...the 50th anniversary of the breaking of the speed of sound by Chuck Yeager in Glamorous Glennis, that bright orange, Bell X-1. Of course, that was perhaps the milestone, more than any other that set the wheels in motion or perhaps, I should say, ignited the rockets that made space exploration a reality.

    Within a few years, the first astronauts had descended upon Edwards, then Houston, Cape Canaveral, and finally the moon. The space race was in earnest. After all, how could we let the Soviets claim the moon for Mother Russia? (That was, of course, before we learned to share and play nice.)

     Outer space was no longer relegated only to the realms of science fiction. Indeed, science fiction became a major beneficiary of the space program. The technology that provides the spectacular special effects we've come to expect in every Star Trek/War/Man, etc... was fathered by the space race. In all our excitement be the first to the moon, we reaped all sorts of accidental benefits. During the movie, "Apollo 13", many a younger viewer chuckled as the engineers whipped out their slide rules. But hand-held calculators, PCs, CDs, digital watches--even Corning Ware, were all rooted in that quest. In fact, NASA may be the only government program, in years, to have paid for itself.

     Yet, we quickly grew bored and moved on to other entertainments. When the first manned rocket went up, the nation stopped. When we landed on the moon, the world stopped, and watched, and wondered. Two flights later, politicians were talking about shutting the whole thing down. After the moon landing, what else was there? Frankly, it took the Challenger tragedy over a decade later before the world truly noticed again. Even today, how many of our current astronauts can you name? Or your child? Or the guy next door? The Mercury, Gemini and Apollo projects are as much ancient history to today’s school kids as their mythological namesakes. The capsules that transported humans into space and brought them safely home again are now museum pieces. Those first brave astronauts are now largely retired, appearing now and then on the lecture circuit.

     That brings us back to that F-15 over Edwards AFB, once more blasting through that demon that was once thought to live at the speed of sound. More than just another workaday victory--it was an anniversary, a celebration, and a swan song. It was the final flight of a legend, General Chuck Yeager, the man who broke the sound barrier a half-century ago, but who was turned down for the astronaut program because he had no college degree.  The sonic boom was a well-deserved parting shot.

Acknowledgments: 6, 7

© Russ Brown, 1997