Posted on 02/04/2011 9:55:55 AM PST by La Enchiladita
Not Apollo Hoax so much as Attention Whores.
Kelly was never, not for an instant, willing to give up his ride for anything or anyone. Rides are what astronauts live for, except for something else...
Attention. The trouble with flying into space since the eighties is that no one cares anymore, because the shuttle and the SSI are just one big merry-go-round to nowhere.
This whole "Will he give up his trip?" was despicable, cynical media manipulation. If you knew a few astronauts, you'd know that there would never be any question that he absolutely would go over anybody's dead body.
Just deplorable...all so one Ted Baxter could have a little more attention.
Good point. This is why there is such a bad relationship between astronauts and their medical supervisors. Astronauts are known for concealing their physical and emotional problems for fear of having their "ride" taken away from them. There was one incident in the early days when a commander refused to tell ground control that a crew member had a cold, a simple thing that can be disastrous in the tight confines of a space capsule.
This whole thing was Kelly's attempt to get some suspense going and some personal publicity. WHen I first saw how he was playing this for PR, I went to intrade to try to make money off it. I knew he would never give up his "ride"--but there wasn't a way on intrade to bet on it.
I wouldn’t say it means nothing. The American or Western tradition is for the woman to take on her husband’s surname. Whether this good, bad, or whatever, is not the issue. She choose the non-traditional method that states her own importance.
In my opinion, you sound jealous of extraordinary people and even of extraordinary achievements. Do we need to identify with or even understand what someone else does for it to be valid?
The point is, Kelly is playing the public.
Why make an issue of whether he would fly, or not?
There is no way he wouldn't fly. There's no body he wouldn't walk over to join his brother in a "historic" meeting in space on the last flight of the shuttle (if it is the last...they keep trying to fly that relic just One Last Time).
But he uses his wife's condition to milk some publicity.
Crass, vulgar, cynical--that's what this situation is. He could shut his stupid mouth and thank the US public for giving him the ride.
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