[ASTRO] Re: John Glenn is evil (NOT!)

[Michael Kepler <kepler@metro1.com>]

.. begin astro-transmission [X-HJIKE27.W5]

Errr... Ummm... Maybe best to leave this one unanswered, but...

I feel slightly responsible for Mr. Cranium's infantile rant,
in as much as I did respond to Andreas' query about Glenn with
some criticism of his (Glenn's) politics.  

Glenn's political career aside, he is a space pioneer and a true space
hero.  I think there is great poetic justice in finally giving
him his second flight.  Ironically, it was political pressure that
kept him out of orbit; Kennedy and NASA were too afraid of the
PR and funding nightmare that would ensue if a high-profile
spaceflight icon like Glenn were to be lost in a mishap.  

In the end, politics are probably what got him back into space
but that isn't an entirely bad thing.  America and Mankind need to
continue to pioneer into space, and Glenn's return to orbit is
a great vehicle for rekindling the kind of interest there had
once been for human space exploration.

We can debate endlessly about the true motivation for sending
him up, but the validity of the science isn't really affected
by the choice of the test subject or the technician performing
the procedures.  We can't help but learn interesting things by
sending people up into that environment and monitor their 
bodily systems.

I've been watching a lot of NASA TV during this mission, and I
do get tired of Glenn harping on about how immediately relevant
the science is to day-to-day life on Earth.  In some cases he
may be correct, but ultimately I don't think it is a good idea
to encourage people to focus on short-term self-centered benefits
from spaceflight.  Much of human progress has been due to our
romantic pursuit of adventure and discovery, not from a narrow
focus on today's bottom line.

Ok, enough out of me (for now),

Mookie

On Sat, 31 Oct 1998, Richard Cranium wrote:

> .. begin astro-transmission [X-HJIKE27.W5]
> 
> so...who thinks Mr. Glenn is going to die while in orbit?  i think
> it's inevitable.
> 
> ...and if he did, they could just throw his corpse out into space and
> watch it explode and disperse throughout the universe.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ==
> 
> 
> 
> _________________________________________________________
> DO YOU YAHOO!?
> Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com
> 
> 
> 
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Yo spud! This message is from the Astro-List.  To post to the list send
> your message to the list at: astro-list@grantbob.com  To be removed 
> from the list, please send a message with "UNSUBSCRIBE astro-list"
> (no quotes) in the BODY of the message to listserv@grantbob.com
> For more info see: <http://www.grantbob.com/moam/astro.html>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> .. end astro-transmission [X-HJIKE27.W5]
> 
> 
> 
>  
> 



-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yo spud! This message is from the Astro-List.  To post to the list send
your message to the list at: astro-list@grantbob.com  To be removed 
from the list, please send a message with "UNSUBSCRIBE astro-list"
(no quotes) in the BODY of the message to listserv@grantbob.com
For more info see: <http://www.grantbob.com/moam/astro.html>
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
.. end astro-transmission [X-HJIKE27.W5]