Le Corbusier Would Have Seen NASA's Final Launch

Photo credit: Ben Cooper/Spaceflight Now

It wasn't my architectural interests that drew me to Cape Canaveral to watch the final viewing of NASA's shuttle Atlantis launch STS-135. Prodded by my science-loving 5-year old, I found the launch to be much more inspirational than expected. Was this probably one of the most inspirational moments of my life?... you betcha. Camping out in a minivan, watching from a private property on the Indian River, and experiencing the launch with tears in my eyes surrounded by cheers from others in the crowd is a memory that will endure.

Unfortunately, the 30-years of NASA's accomplishments are largely unnoticed. Even though 1 million people came and flooded the area around Cape Canaveral in anticipation of the final shuttle launch show, there are many Americans who don't understand that these missions have impacted our lives on many levels. The shuttles have supplied work on the International Space Station that has a laboratory that conducts experiments in biology, human biology, physics, astronomy, and meteorology. Bringing these experiments closer to home, it was in this laboratory that significant advances in breast cancer were realized, infant and child car seats were better designed, advances in muscles atrophy, bone loss, crystal formation, recycling water, plant growth, and much more were discovered.

An architect at heart, I can't help but remember Le Corbusier's legacy. He was inspired by the leading engineering feats of his day when thinking about Villa Savoye and beyond. L-C thought that his architecture could be made better by using leading ideas and materials of his day in his own work. In fact, he said in Towards a New Architecture, "Engineers unknown to the world at large, mechanics shop and forge have conceived and constructed these formidable affairs that steamships are. We land-lubbers lack the power of appreciation and it would be a good thing if, to teach us to raise our hats to the works of 'regeneration,' we had to do the miles of walking that the tour of a steamship entails."

How can we be inspired by NASA, digest their feats a bit, and use some of their great lessons in the work we do today?

My full article will be featured in Georgia Engineer and Georgia Contractor later this year.
Towards a New Architecture
The International Space Station (Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science 2)
Creating the International Space Station (Springer Praxis Books / Space Exploration)
Space Station (IMAX)