And a biologist named Bambi! LOL
Query: How many people think it was purely a publicity event, how many people think
it was legitimate, and how many people go down the middle?

And how many think it was partially political payback?

Is biologist Bambi running the cockroach experiment? Think X-Files!

-- 12 --

I have no problem with sending politicians into space... My problem is with bringing them back J

I think the next politican we send up should be should be Gingrich. For that matter, let's just move Congress to the Moon.

I think some members are already there.

You can't have politicians on the moon because there isn't enough hot air there.

They'll create enough. Just give 'em a bag of chips and some bean dip...

Phil: Our esteemed astronaut's last name is "Glenn" - with 2 n's. Despite your entreaties of light-heartedness and good cheer, can we at least try to get *real world* spellings correct? Thank you.

Out in the wild wood glen, there lived an astronaut... Nope. Won't work.

I think the research is legitimate. I know the naysayers are convinced that this one trip can't produce meaningful data, but right now we can't send a thousand seniors into space. Someone has to be the first. Senator Glenn is fit, and unlike other candidates we have tons of data on his health as a younger man. Right now our space program has been cut back so far that most people don't see it doing much because there aren't the big new missions of the past. We must remember, though, that the space race of the 60's brought us great scientific advancement. Almost anything having to do with miniaturization of electronics was originally developed for NASA. Todays home computers, medical diagnostic tools,satellite sytems,laser technology, and much more would not have been possible without the push for space. People often speak of how wars bring about great achievements in technology, but our race with Russia brought more advancements than any war in history - at a much lower price in terms of lives lost. In addition, we gained a national pride and hope for the future like never before. The space program gave us a chance to see that mass destruction in a nuclear war wasn't the only possible future for the world. Sending people into space let us see that maybe it was possible for any of us to go great adventures someday. The unmanned probes bring valuable data, but the sight of people living and working in space and on the moon gives future's potential a very concrete quality.
Our presence in space also gave Science Fiction a huge boost in readership, and a new legitimacy at the box office. No longer relegated to B-movie status and budgets, SF films blossomed in the 1970's.
Right now we're using thousands of things developed for the space program every day - just as a part of our daily routine: living longer lives in more comfort than in any time before and we hardly think about it.
When I look at the people around me, I realize that many of them would not be here with me now without the technological advances given us through the space race. I myself would be a quadrapelegic, and I am extremely thankful that I had the opportunity to give up my wheelchair and use my arms and legs.
Robert Heinlein wrote an essay on this topic, which I highly recommend. "Spinoff" was published in his book "Expanded Universe".

The space race gave us the heaven to complete Robert Brownings saying... "Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, or what's a heaven for?"

Oops! Oops! Sorry about the mispelling on the name. Ah, but to change it now would signal my attempt to grasp perfection! ;-)

Lisa, I agree. Are you referring to the well-known 'Heinlein Principle'?
You know, I wasn't around in 69, so I don't remember this stuff. But something that
Arthur C. Clarke once said struck me deeply. He said, " I knew that I was going to live
to see the space program succeed, and put man in space. *But I never thought that I
would live to see the space project end!* "
Since I remember, the only thing that we've done is put little dinky robots in space...
which serve legitimate scientific needs... but... it just isn't the same. I and my
friends got tears in our eyes when we watched the movie Apollo 13, because... the
space program used to be so great! We used to go out there and do stuff, and... when
we watched Glenn blast off, we got all teary-eyed again, partly because we're all
over-emotional females, and partly 'cause we were Finally Doing Something Big Again.
If NASA did this for publicity, it did a darn fine job on it... because we all kinda wish
we were the ones going up.

Actually, I don't recall hearing of the Heinlein Principle. The essay I refernce was written by Bob about how he was asked to speak before Congress on the value of our space program, and what he found out while doing background research. I am old enough to remember the beginnings of our space program, and the respect people afforded it. Everything would stop at school while we watched launches on tv's brought in specially for the event. I was lucky enough to have had one of NASA's publicity people visit my school and show us all sorts of cool astronaut equipment. He told us that at one point NASA had thought of asking that every product out on the consumer market as a result of the space program carry a special logo. The project got bogged down because once they started identifying products a very cursory search identified over a million products, which was more paperwork than they could handle. This was in the early 1970's. Yes, I get all teary-eyed seeing the shuttles go up, and I wish all the other living Mercury astronauts could get a crack at it. One of the saddest things is just how little we've actually been able afford. When I was a kid, I really thought we'd have a colony on Mars by now. Even classic Trek postulates more than we've been able to do. I wish the budget wouldn't keep getting cut on every project - one of the biggest myths out there is that NASA costs a lot. It's one of the lowest funded government projects. The forrest service gets more money. It's really too bad, because at this point the Japanese are spending more on space than us and are really getting somewhere with it. They are a major partner in the space station project, but also have big plans for their own station and also a lunar facility. They already have plans for a space station tourist hotel for wealthy tourists!

When John Glenn returns from space, we need everybody to be dressed up in Ape Suits. We only have a couple of days in which to bury the Statue of Liberty up to her neck.
EVERYBODY HURRY !
Pass it on.

Oh Chris, were you the one to email my local radio station, KFKF? they said they got
about a hundred emails that said only," Psst. Everybody greet Glenn wearing gorilla
suits. Pass it on." I think somebody from this board confused the poor DJs! I thought
I was going to have a cow when they read that, I was laughing so hard.

No, no, it wasn't me. I'm in Australia so I wouldn't your local radio station. Someone e-mailed me - amazing how these things get around, eh?

that's really scary. I bet there was at least one person dressed as an ape at the
landing

First - Remember all these Sci Fi books about the early 2000s? Asimov? Heinelin? even Kimstanly Robinson's recent REDMARS novel... I think we'll have to push the dateof all these for a hundred years... at least!

About Glenn - well, I don't know him,but as a general rule, it is very wise to send popliticians to space but not so wise to bring them back!


I heard a suggestion over the net to prepare for his return- have everyone dress like monkeys and bury up the statue of Liberty! :-)

No kidding, Omer. We heard that too. (see above.)
Guys, I'm really depressed and, although it isn't really on-topic, I
thought I could cry on your shoulder. I belong to something called a
Virtual Charter School. It's part of Clinton's effort to bridge the gap
between public, private, and homeschool. It's designed for
homeschoolers so that they can use school textbooks, take tests at
schools, and confer via email with their teachers. The fun part of all
this is that they gave us free iMacs and we get to go on cool field
trips. At least, theoreticlly. Fred Haise, one of the Apollo 13
astronauts, is scheduelled to give a free talk today at my local
community college, and my school is going there for a field trip. I
was, understandably I thought, very excited about it, and my
mother sort of hedged, but gave me the general impression that we
were going to go-- until today. Now, she says we can't go and no
amount of arguing or pleading will change her mind. WAHH!!! <sniff,
sniff> :

I feel better now. Thanks.

Hey K.N.D.… that Virtual Charter School thing sounds interesting! Where is it located?

http://www.usd458.k12.ks.us/VCS/VIRTUA%7E1.HTM
hope the link works!

Yes, K.N.D., very interesting! I was homeschooled and my younger siblings are too, and I hadn't heard anything about Virtual Charter School till now. Thanks!

(Yes, your link works.)

KND -
I just read your message about all of us overemotional females, and I am so glad that I am not the only one who feels this way! I found the movie Apollo 13 in a clearance bin the other day, and someone had to calm me down because that IS JUST WRONG!! Jim Lovell is one of the great heroes of our time and there are people out there who think the whole thing is ridiculous and haven't even heard of him. I've seen Apollo 13 well over 100 times and I still get all watery eyes when Gene Krantz starts to cry. Is anybody with me on this?
On the lighter side, has anyone seen that cheese commercial about men going to the moon and discovering that it was made out of rock and no one has been there since, and then it cuts to "Behold the power of cheese" (or something like that)? That is classic! Any fan of the space progam should see it!

Just my two cents.

The thing I really hate is when people assume that since it was a movie, it was fake and never really happened! I have tried and tried to convince these people otherwise but they just will not listen.

BTW , I got to meet Gene Kranz last summer at Space Center Houston! (We got there right before they closed off the autograph line.) He said that he thoght Ed Harris did a good jopb of playing him in the movie, but he wasn't mean enough. He shouldn't have let his controllers get out of control (no pun, not even a bad one, intended). If you've never seen a picture of him from the Apollo days, he actually looks a lot like Ed Harris in the movie!

I saw the docudrama "Apollo 11" on Fox the other night... Matt Frewer also did a good job as Kranz.

AMH97, I am a thirtysomething male, and I also get watery at that scene. Did you ever see a documentary called "The Space Movie"? I highly recommend it.

ScottN-
Didn't mean that in a bad way, I was just following what KND was talking about. My fortysomething parents get teary too, and they were around when it happened. I was more concerned with the fact that SOMEONE gets teary during that scene. Glad there's another member of the club.
No, I have not seen "The Space Movie" but I work at a video store and may be able to track it down. I also highly recommend "Moon Shot," both the book and the movie.

AMH, I knew that... I was just telling you that you weren't alone. While I understand the need to demythologize space travel, I can still mourn that.

To this day, I will always remember sitting and watching Armstrong step out. I will always remember the first shuttle launch and landing, and of course, Challenger.

While I was just a little too young to remember, let us not forget Grissom, Chaffee, and White, nor Komarov and the Soyuz three (whose names I don't know). They all died blazing the trail for the rest of us, and may their names never be struck from the pantheon of heroes.

ScottN-
Wow, that, uh, wow. I'll admit that I was pretty little when Challenger happened. I do remember my first grade teacher crying a lot after it happened. Maybe that's why I'm so interested in this sort of thing. I understand that at one time someone wanted to name the 10 moons of a planet (don't remember which one) after the Challenger 7 and the Apollo 3. That was an incredible tribute.
I think that it is a terrible shame that it takes someone as famous as John Glenn to get a little publicity for a shuttle launch. EVERY launch should be televised and get the publicity that he did. These people truly are exploring a new frontier, and some had to give their lives to do it. John Glenn is a hero, but, as you say, so are Gus Grissom, Ed White, Roger Chaffee, the Challenger crew, as well as the Cosmonauts that gave their lives to space.