h (Rand Simberg) wrote:

On Sun, 02 Jul 2006 13:30:53 -0400, in a place far, far away,
(Derek Lyons) made the phosphor on my monitor glow
in such a way as to indicate that:

(Rand Simberg) wrote:

My thoughts on whether or not to fly Shuttle, and the cult of
astronaut worship:

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q...UxNjE5MjM1OTE=

You only made one error - but it's the same one most space cadets
make. You fail to realize the 99% of *all* exploration is tooling
around in circles with what amounts to 'science fair' equipment.

For some values of "exploration," perhaps.

There are values of exploration other than "boldly going" Rand, which
is my point.

It's a creation of the media that leads people to believe that the
opposite is true. I won't say modern media - because the press of the
late 19th and early 20th century indulged heavily in the sport, ably
assisted by numerous 'explorers' who were shameless self promoters.
(Even if they did accomplish exploration that was actually useful, as
opposed to just stunts.)

There is an unhealthy tendency among a certain class of space
enthusiasts to define exploration as 'everything and anything *except*
what the Shuttle (and/or ISS) is doing'. This flies in the face of
reality - in which there is a great deal of scientific and exploratory
work done that *isn't* boldly going. And the general public, as well
as space enthusiasts, are mostly unaware beyond the occasional
accidents (USS Greeneville), or problems (potential breast cancer at
the South Pole).

D.
--
Touch-twice life. Eat. Drink. Laugh.

-Resolved: To be more temperate in my postings.
Oct 5th, 2004 JDL