On Wed, 31 Mar 2010 15:05:21 -0400, Jeff Findley wrote:

"Marvin the Martian" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 29 Mar 2010 10:21:09 -0400, Jeff Findley wrote:

"Marvin the Martian" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 24 Mar 2010 09:28:31 -0800, Pat Flannery wrote:

virgin

Why does that crap fascinate so many people? It's a lousy sounding
rocket. It is orders of magnitude away from LEO.

I think people just don't understand. It plays on their ignorance.

It's not intended to be a sounding rocket, so yea, it would obviously
make a lousy sounding rocket, just like my Crown Victoria makes a
lousy pickup truck.

Again, a sounding rocket is one that simply goes up high in the
atmosphere and doesn't even get close to LEO.

So Mercury-Redstone was a "sounding rocket"? To paraphrase Al on Home
Improvement, "I don't think so Marvin!"

It fits the definition, yes.

As far as I know, the commonly accepted definition of a sounding rocket
is a suborbital rocket which carries payloads for research. Wikipedia
and all of the online dictionaries I visited either say a "sounding
rocket" is unmanned, carries instruments, or is used for making
meteorological observations.

That's this thing.

IT is a sounding rocket, "lousy" refers to sounding rockets in contrast
to rockets that can launch a payload to orbit.

The fascination is only for the idiots who don't know the difference.

Your inappropriate usage of the term "sounding rocket" to describe a
manned suborbital spacecraft is obviously a derogatory usage and I
believe I am smart enough to notice that fact.

Wrong again. You're not smart enough to notice the difference.