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SALT LAKE CITY -- It is sadly ironic that as the Space Shuttle Atlantis takes its final laps around the Earth, it will not be visible in the skies over Northern Utah -- a place where the space program has left a legacy which will be very visible for a very long time.
The decision to wind down the shuttle program has had an indelible impact on Box Elder County and surrounding areas, where the shuttle's solid-fuel rocket booster motors were designed, tested and assembled. Those communities have worked hard and successfully to diversify their economies, and while they will struggle with the loss of employment, they will rebound.
A rebound will come in part because of the physical and intellectual infrastructure left by the investment of NASA in Utah over a period of several decades. In just the last ten years, NASA spent more than $5 billion dollars here -- a significant percentage of the state's overall manufacturing economy.
The legacy will certainly live on at the campus of Utah State University, which has been the number one institution in America for space research funding. There, the highly-respected Space Dynamics Laboratory and the college of Mechanical Aerospace Engineering will continue to thrive as centers of technological innovation.
There are personal, as well as institutional connections. Two shuttle astronauts came from Utah. When NASA chose an administrator to guide the shuttle program, it hired James Fletcher, who was then president of the University of Utah. Former Senator Jake Garn was a long-time advocate for the space program, and was the first civilian to ride in the cabin of a space shuttle.
The final voyage of the Atlantis this month has inspired a national discussion of where the space program should go from here, and an appreciation for how far it has come. In Utah, there is reason to appreciate as well, how much it has left behind.
Email: cpsarras@ksl.com
