FYI: Shuttle Shedding In Orbit On Day 1, Radar Shows.

[Lancecastor]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2003/02/09/MN145167.DTL

Sounds to me like someone went #2, but this article says DOD radar shows the shuttle shedding something on the first day in orbit, fyi.

 

[Guest]

What a horrible feeling for those aboard.

Reminds me of the Apollo.

 

[Lancecastor]

What a horrible feeling for those aboard.

Reminds me of the Apollo.

I think every astronaut must have to subsume theose horrible feelings on every mission and go forward anyway.

Pettite, for example, currently on the ISS, was a last minute replacement for a NASA-naut who was scrubbed due to over-exposure to radiation on 4 previous shuttle missions.

Obviously, despite what the general public is told, being a NASA-naut is a profession that shortens your life significantly.

They can't get life insurance, for example, so a special fund authorized by Congress exists.

I gave up auto racing when my first child was born in part because of the perception of danger and in part because increased insurance coverage was going to cost a lot more...but I was still covered.

It's inherently risky business, doing the Major Tom gig. I'm surprised it's as safe as NASA has made it.

 

[peachykeen]

and this is why they are, in fact, heroes.

 

[Lancecastor]

and this is why they are, in fact, heroes.

I disagree. A hero does something out-of-scale extraordinary and selfless for the good of others without thought for their own safety.

These yobbos have been flying around the earth's orbit for 25 years doing the same lame "experiments".

They've gone nowhere and done nothing new since the Apollo program.

SpaceBus is like Seinfeld reruns...playing to 1:100 odds of death until someone invariably blows up. This time they went 88 missions before exploding. Heroes my ass.

You show me someone getting blown to bits saving 6 children from a flaming school bus....that's a hero.

These people are no more heroes than the fat cop that gets shot walking past a bank robbery.

The "hero" label is applied too freely in American culture, IMHO.

Your Air Force killed 4 Canadian artillerymen in Afghanistan last year. We haven't enshrined them as heroes for getting blown up by trigger happy F-16 pilots.

Lance

 

[Romial]

Interesting...tag.