Viewing page 16 of 85

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

NASA image/media

NASA replies on public support for its continued funding, and over the years it has earned an excellent public image. NASA captured America's imagination by appealing to its pioneering spirit, its fascination with the unknown, and its yearning to explore uncharted worlds.

But meanwhile the Shuttle was sold to Congress and advertised to the public as a "workhorse", a "space truck", a vehicle which would make space travel "routine". Not very glamorous. A high-tech truck is not "the stuff the dreams are made on".

As the space shuttle is proclaimed "operational", and NASA brags of an impending once-a-month flight rate, the media has naturally begun to lose interest. There is, by definition, very little newsworthy about something which is routine.

Although NASA's trying to fan the fading ember of media interest, as long as the Space Shuttle continues to perform well it will attract less and less attention. Ironically, the more successful the program is, the less newsworthy become the successes, and the more newsworthy become the failures.
It's important to remember that there is a difference between the media losing interest and the public losing interest. The public is still fascinated by "Space".