NASA HONORS LEGENDARY ASTRONAUT VANCE BRAND

"Pat Flannery" wrote in message
...
Our Shuttle crews were also able to "dodge death on almost a monthly
basis" due to the defective field joints on the SRBs and the shedding foam
on the ET. And we are way ahead of Russia in space fatalities at 14 to 4
respectively.

Stuffie? Is that you?

On Thu, 12 Jan 2006 18:19:32 GMT, "Jim Oberg" wrote:

Only with the Soviet program at a standstill did Moscow agree to fly a
joint orbital mission. Its fallback position was that if it couldn't be
Number One in space, it could at least pose as the equal partner of the new
Number One, the United States. It was better than letting on how far behind
its space program had fallen.
Space history in a vacuum -- Some of the revisionist history touted at
these celebrations wasn't nearly as benign. At the NASM, Vance Brand
delicately described the cautious first meetings when "we'd all heard a lot
of bad things about the other country". Brand wasn't so rude as to elaborate
that the "bad things" Americans had heard about the USSR were mostly true
and the "bad things" the Soviet public had been fed about the West were
mostly propagandistic lies. But, Brand continued, since the cosmonauts were
easy to get along with, "any concerns went away." As pilots they were able
to ignore politics, they all agreed.

I'm certainly not going to defend the morality of the USSR on any front. But you
know, this wasn't exactly a high-water mark for the US either. We'd just lost what
much of the world had come to feel was an imperialistic war in Vietnam. It had
been revealed that we'd even fought a secret war in Cambodia. The prestige
of the US government didn't exactly get a boost from Watergate. Our economy
was a mess (did the Apollo crew wear "WIN" buttons in space? Our space
program was in the doldrums- Skylab hadn't exactly caught the public's imagination,
especially since as first launched it looked like an injured duck in orbit.

You seem to suggest that all was great here and we didn't need Apollo-Soyuz,
but they did. That its primary purpose was as a Soviet propaganda exercise,
and it had little beneficial effect on the mindset of the average (especially
younger) citizen during some pretty dark days. I think there's a touch of
revisionism in your article as well.

But as someone who held an important place in the US space program, you
get a hero's blank check from me as well

Thanks,
Dale

Dale wrote:

Our economy
was a mess (did the Apollo crew wear "WIN" buttons in space?


I may still have one of those lying around.
For the young 'uns here who don't know what "WIN" button is, it was
President Ford's laughable way of confronting inflation- if we all wore
"Whip Inflation Now" buttons the thing would somehow go away.
He was not reelected.

Pat

Dale wrote:

I think there's a touch of
revisionism in your article as well.



I can guarantee you that's the first time I ever saw the loss of the
Columbia blamed on the Russians.
That hits me a a very odd conclusion to draw.

Pat

OM wrote:
On Wed, 11 Jan 2006 22:20:38 GMT, "Jim Oberg"
wrote:


I wouldn't call him a 'legend', because
he flew too late to get the media attention,


Q: did he fly as CMP on ASTP?

A: Yes.

Q: Then is he a legend?

A: What the frack do *you* think?

It's kinda like old-school British prog-rock. Everybody and their dog
knows who Yes were, but you had to be _seriously_ into that stuff to
know who 801 and Planet Gong were. Not huge stars, but awesome nonetheless.


--

..

"Though I could not caution all, I yet may warn a few:
Don't lend your hand to raise no flag atop no ship of fools!"

--grateful dead.
__________________________________________________ _____________
Mike Flugennock, flugennock at sinkers dot org
"Mikey'zine": dubya dubya dubya dot sinkers dot org

"mike flugennock" wrote in message
ervers.com...


Q: Then is he a legend?

A: What the frack do *you* think?

It's kinda like old-school British prog-rock. Everybody and their dog
knows who Yes were, but you had to be _seriously_ into that stuff to know
who 801 and Planet Gong were. Not huge stars, but awesome nonetheless.


Gong were a great fusion band when Daevid Allen left. They were a pointless
stoner space-rock band with him.

"mike flugennock" wrote in message
ervers.com...
OM wrote:
On Wed, 11 Jan 2006 22:20:38 GMT, "Jim Oberg"
wrote:


I wouldn't call him a 'legend', because
he flew too late to get the media attention,


Q: did he fly as CMP on ASTP?

A: Yes.

Q: Then is he a legend?

A: What the frack do *you* think?

It's kinda like old-school British prog-rock. Everybody and their dog
knows who Yes were, but you had to be _seriously_ into that stuff to know
who 801 and Planet Gong were. Not huge stars, but awesome nonetheless.

Of course I know who they are. I have a bunch of Gong, and other Daevid
Allen projects, such as Soft Machine. Also nearly everything officially put
out by Hawkwind. (I don't have the DVD re-releases for "Astounding
Sounds/Amazing Music" and "Hawklords"). Also nearly everything by Brian Eno.
Who would be another great choice for creative artist in space.

"Ami Silberman" wrote in message
...

"mike flugennock" wrote in message
ervers.com...

It's kinda like old-school British prog-rock. Everybody and their dog
knows who Yes were, but you had to be _seriously_ into that stuff to know
who 801 and Planet Gong were. Not huge stars, but awesome nonetheless.

Of course I know who they are. I have a bunch of Gong, and other Daevid
Allen projects, such as Soft Machine. Also nearly everything officially
put out by Hawkwind. (I don't have the DVD re-releases for "Astounding
Sounds/Amazing Music" and "Hawklords"). Also nearly everything by Brian
Eno. Who would be another great choice for creative artist in space.

Brian Eno is already there, sort of ... as his music was used for the "For
All Mankind" release directed by Al Reinert.

Hmmm ... yeah, I'm in the mood for a Saturn V launch played back through 700
watts of surround sound system ... grin

J

"OM" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 11 Jan 2006 22:20:38 GMT, "Jim Oberg"
wrote:

I wouldn't call him a 'legend', because
he flew too late to get the media attention,

Q: did he fly as CMP on ASTP?

A: Yes.

True - but if he hadn't been selected, there were several other people who
could have trained to do it.