In case you have not heard, this week marks a very important moment in the space history of america. The hubble telescope, arguably the greatest achievement of the post-Apollo era, and it’s transportation and maintenance companion, the space shuttle, are entering their final phases of existence. It’s nice that they have the chance to go out together:

that pillar of light and smoke still gets me teary.

If all goes well, in five spacewalks starting Thursday morning, the crew members will revamp and refresh the telescope, which has dazzled the public and the science community with its iconic cosmic postcards. Then they will say goodbye on behalf of humanity forever. Sometime in the middle of the next decade, the Hubble will run out of juice, and it will eventually be crashed into the ocean….

So if it is the beginning of the last act for the Hubble, the flight Monday also marks the beginning of the end for the space shuttle, whose greatest legacy might very well be the role it played in the repair and maintenance of the Hubble, what Commander Altman recently called “an incredible example of how humans and machines can work together.”

Today, there are news reports that hull analysis has shown some damage to Atlantis:

The Atlantis astronauts uncovered a 21-inch stretch of nicks on their space shuttle Tuesday, but NASA said the damage did not appear to be serious.

The damage was likely the result of debris that came off the fuel tank shortly after liftoff Monday. The astronauts were inspecting their ship while racing to the Hubble Space Telescope when they came across the nicks spread over four to five thermal tiles.

It stands as an important caveat to the entire space shuttle and its increasingly sensitive hull. The concern was so great, that for the first time there is a secondary crew on standby to rescue the crew if it were to be stranded by hull damage. The Discovery disaster was only 6 years ago, and even though NASA is still working on the next generation of hulls that can avert another disaster like that, it feels far from reality.

The whole mission strikes me as really sad. Layoffs have started. The next generation of space explorers will have to use international means to get into the cosmos. As we celebrate the exhilaration of the return of the Star Trek franchise,we are  slowly losing a hold on achievements that have gone far to shape our modern world. Star trek-like achievements in this current economic climate seem even further away.

Humans are made to beat back and win challenges. Space being the ultimate challenge, it brings out the best parts of all things human, from our brain’s capacity to problem solving, and flashes of genius, to the usually ignored stabilizing aspects of all human culture.  it’s a concern of mine that waning attention to it may hurt us as much as not developing a better energy policy or universal health care. It’s time like these that i cringe when i hear the idea that government is the problem. Some problems are just too big for industry to handle on its own.

If you haven’t been fortunate to catch the Science Channel’s special “Mars Rising”, try to see it if you can. It’s an in depth look at how ridiculously detailed a mission like that would need to be. It makes me laugh that a presidency as error prone and inept as the Bush administration would be the first one to announce the mission.