Astronaut Dreams

Fox News ^ | June 6, 2002 | Rand Simberg

[NonZeroSum]

Ken Layne had a Foxnews column the other day about the NBA versus "football" (soccer to Yanks).

I think that the NBA is contributing to a national tragedy.

There are millions of kids of school age, particularly in the inner cities.

[NonZeroSum]

A kid today has a better chance of being an NBA star than getting into space, based on NASA's plans.

[SBeck]

A kid today has a better chance of being an NBA star than getting into space, based on NASA's plans.

Assuming that NASA will always be the only game in town.

[NonZeroSum]

Ping

[Salgak]

Jenny's Song from "Fallen Angels", by Jerry Pournelle and Michael Flynn (you can read it for free on www.baen.com. look for the "free library". . .)

"Wanted fan in Luna City, wanted fan on Dune and Down,
Wanted fan at Ophiuchus, wanted fan in Dydee-town.
All across the sky they want me, am I flattered? Yes I am!
If I could just reach orbit, then I'd be a wanted fan.

"Wanted fan for mining coal and wanted fan for drilling oil,
I went very fast through Portland, hunted hard like Gully Foyle.
Built reactors in Seattle against every man's advice,
Couldn't do that in Alaska, Fonda says it isn't nice.

"Wanted fan for plain sedition, like the singing of this tune.
If NASA hadn't failed us wed have cities on the moon.
If it weren't for fucking NASA we'd at least have walked on Mars.
And if I can't make orbit, then I'll never reach the stars.

"Nader's Raiders want my freedom, OSHA wants my scalp and hair,
If I'm wanted in Wisconsin, be damned sure I won't be there!
If the E-P-A still wants me, I'll avoid them if I can.
They're tearing down the cities, so I'll be a wanted fan!

"Wanted fan on Chthon and Sparta and the Hub's ten million stars,
Wanted fan for singing silly in a thousand spaceport bars.
If it's what we really want, we'll build a starship when we can;
If I could just make orbit then I'd be a wanted fan.

"Wanted fan for building spacecraft, wanted fan for dipping air,
Sending microwave transmissions, building habitats up there.
Oh the glacier got us last time, next time we'll try to land!
And when the Ice is conquered, it'll be by wanted fans.

BTW, good book on the effects of runaway political correctness. . .

[RadioAstronomer]

A kid today has a better chance of being an NBA star than getting into space, based on NASA's plans.

Unless you are a teen idol and are able to pay the Russians.

[RightWhale]

Of course the author is correct to a degree. But remember that many of the astronauts are scientists in their own right and that many scientists try for the job and don't make the grade for whatever reason and still remain scientists. That's not shooting hoops until you need bifocals and a walker.

[JenB]

Thank you... that book is one of my favorites, and the song is pretty haunting. I'm not yet 20. I've been hoping for the stars since I was ten and my father got me hooked on Heinlein. Right now it looks like I'll never get there, but the sci fi I read as a kid convinced me to go after computer science. Wouldn't have done that after watching basketball!

Incidentally, Heinlein's short story The Man who Sold the Moon is a pretty good look at how to get us to the Moon.

[NonZeroSum]

But remember that many of the astronauts are scientists in their own right and that many scientists try for the job and don't make the grade for whatever reason and still remain scientists. That's not shooting hoops until you need bifocals and a walker.

He said that.

[Salgak]

It's even more so if you know the real person on whom Jenny Trout is based. That's Leslie Fish, a legend in fannish and filkish circles, and a spaceflight fanatic. I've known her for years: in fact, almost EVERYONE in Fallen Angels is based on a real member of Fandom. Mostly, but not exclusively, L.A. area fandom (g)

[Nowhere Man]

Thank you... that book is one of my favorites, and the song is pretty haunting. I'm not yet 20. I've been hoping for the stars since I was ten and my father got me hooked on Heinlein. Right now it looks like I'll never get there, but the sci fi I read as a kid convinced me to go after computer science. Wouldn't have done that after watching basketball!

I'll be 36 in July and I remember watching the Apollo 11 LEM land on the Moon when I was 3 in 1969. I remember sitting on the floor with my mother and I was just hooked on what was going on. As I reached school age, I was heavily into space, even in first grade when I was bumped up to the 6th grade class when they studied space exploration. I'm into science big time and I also gravitated towards radio electronics and computers to where I make webpages and hold an amateur radio license today.

I also thought that when I was a kid in the 1970's, we'd have bases and cities on the Moon, maybe an L5 Space Station, and walked on Mars. One of my books said that we'd land on Mars "by the 1980's or later." I know we have the ISS and although I think it is a joke, I will support it because at least we are up there in some limited capacity. My uncle worked for NASA from the time of Project Gemini until he retired last year (although he is thinking about going back part-time, my aunt passed away and he has time on his hands) and even he says that "we have been dragging our feet too long."

I think like in anything else, maybe a good way to get into space is the profit motive, so I wonder if it would be a good idea for private firms to help fund the shuttle and space travel by putting their logos and stuff on it. The shuttle would look like a NASCAR car.

I think with the exception of computers and perhaps medical science, we have in some ways gone backwards.

[Brett66]

I'd like to see space camps that don't just (or even) simulate Shuttle missions, but that provide exposure to a variety of activities in space that might be done privately.

I like that idea! I'm seriously considering sending my daughter to space camp when she gets older. It will be up to me to teach her about the pitfalls of big government programs though. Space camp is stuck in the pre-Challenger world of space utopia through gubmint.

[JenB]

I read an essay recently on that very thing, it said that basically the Apollo project was a mistake. We should have let Russia go to the Moon, and have put up L5 colonies. Then we'd still be out there... it's beginning to look like the only chance we have left is the one from the song Salgak posted...

If it's what we really want, we'll build a starship when we can;
If I could just make orbit then I'd be a wanted fan. ...

And when the stars are conquered, it will be by wanted fans!

Salgak, I knew that the characters in that book were mostly based on real people. I do envy you if you know them, though. I don't know anyone who is anyone in Fandom. I'm not even part of a fan group. Are they as cool in person as they are in the stories that get passed around?

[Salgak]

Jen, NOBODY is as cool as their written persona is. The Fish, while a space-fanatic, second-amendment defender and a card-carrying Wobbly (that's right, a member of the Socialist International Workers of the World. . .)she also smokes like a chimney and drinks rotgut Scotch like a fish. . .

But all that aside, the Fish is one hell of a woman. Except, unlike Jenny Trout, the Fish keeps dying her hair black. . . (g)

As for Fandom, I gafiated years ago. Getting a wife and kids generally do that. . .