Members and guests attending the second annual meeting of the Wiscasset Chamber of Commerce last week learned about the space program and its contribution to economic development.

Wiscasset Selectman and former National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) contractor Ed Polewarczyk provided a presentation on a typical space shuttle flight.

He began by describing the preparation of the shuttle, the launching, the flight, the reentry and the landing.

“When I think of economic development, what comes to mind is industry,” Polewarczyk said. “The space shuttle program became an industry and employed thousands.”

“Throughout history we have been blessed with individuals who have discovered many fundamental scientific principals and with individuals who have created great inventions by combining these basis principals in a very unique way,” Polewarczyk said.

He talked about Alexander Bell inventing the telephone on the combined work of Michael Faraday, who built two devices to produce what he called electromagnetic rotation;  Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinsville, who invented the phonograph;  Hans Christian Oersted, who was the man behind electromagnetism and aluminum; and Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand von Helmholtz, a German physician and physicist who made significant contributions to several widely varied areas of modern science, in physiology and psychology.

“The space shuttle was designed and built using 1970s technology and a unique combination of known devices and principles,” Polewarczyk said.

“It began with an idea, it is not uncommon for new ideas for industry to be meet objections,” he said. “Many times the idea grows because an individual is supported by two or three people who put in the sweat to get it started.

“Industry needs public support, and investors to get started, a team working together can make it happen,” he said. “It takes a special character to take a risk. The shuttle team risks their lives and their careers, in industry people risk their money.”

During the presentation Polewarczyk showed several slides of the shuttle, the astronauts performing their daily duties in flight, of them working on the space station, and the concerns of re-entry.

The last photo was of Earth.

“When I look at this photo, the hymn 'How Great Thou Art' comes to my mind, ‘Lord my God! When I in awesome wonder consider all the works thy hand hath made, I see the stars, I hear the mighty thunder, Thy power throughout the universe displayed.”

Charlotte Boynton can be reached at 207-844-4632 or cboynton@wiscassetnewspaper.com.