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Could 'I Dream Of Jeannie' happen in real life?



 
 
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  #1  
Old May 21st 13, 02:16 AM posted to sci.space.history
Joseph Nebus
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Default Could 'I Dream Of Jeannie' happen in real life?


I of course am not referring to the riotously impossible
circumstance of Major Nelson's many, many spaceflights --- I think he
had two in the Mercury capsule alone, within a single year --- but to
his successfully living with an unmarried (and foreign!) woman.

It's legendary --- to the point one starts suspecting the
rumors are overblown --- that the press corps kept silence during the
Space Race days about astronaut infidelities, lest the fun of the
whole project get bogged down in scandal and whatnot. However, Duane G
raveline's divorce (in 1966) did get him kicked out of the program so
fast he barely showed up on film. Deke Slayton claimed it was because
a divorce would interfere with the job, but it was the 60s, after all,
and the press was paying attention.

However, Nelson was a veteran astronaut when he met Jeannie,
and a bachelor, and, despite considerable distractions seems to have
met all the astronaut office's performance demands. So, given that,
could he get away with it? If he could, would he stop being able
to get away with it after the Apollo 1 Fire and the increased press
skepticism regarding NASA, or after Apollo 11 and the end of the
Space Race as an urgent national priority? If he couldn't then, when
could he?

(I imagine astronauts could live with someone of the opposite
sex today without attracting attention, but 2013 is a phenomenally
different world from 1963.)





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http://nebusresearch.wordpress.com/ Joseph Nebus
Latest: Reading the Comics, 16 May 2013 http://wp.me/p1RYhY-sf
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  #4  
Old May 28th 13, 06:41 AM posted to sci.space.history
[email protected]
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Default Could 'I Dream Of Jeannie' happen in real life?

I thought you were referring to the way Major Nelson would be sitting in the capsule, waiting for liftoff, while his booster alternated between being an Atlas, Titan II, and Titan III, all in a matter of seconds.
  #5  
Old May 30th 13, 06:41 PM posted to sci.space.history
Joseph Nebus
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Default Could 'I Dream Of Jeannie' happen in real life?

In Chris Jones writes:

Brian Thorn writes:


On Tue, 21 May 2013 01:16:17 +0000 (UTC), (Joseph
Nebus) wrote:


I of course am not referring to the riotously impossible
circumstance of Major Nelson's many, many spaceflights --- I think he
had two in the Mercury capsule alone, within a single year -


Nor the fact that the female lead lived in a bottle and could perform
magic?


Well, sure. I mean, the genie is easy to believe in. An
astronaut who gets to fly more than John Young even when his personal
life seems to be an endless parade of weird little follies (and who
lives in Florida rather than Texas)? That's a stretch.


Well, Tom Stafford flew Gemini 6 in December 1965 and Gemini 9 in June
1966; Pete Conrad flew Gemini 5 in August 1965 and Gemini 11 in
September 1966; and Jim Lovell flew Gemini 7 in December 1965 and
Gemini 12 in November 1966...


All three of those cases were affected by the death of the prime crew of
Gemini 9, which bumped a lot of crews forward. Also, with two seats on
Gemini vs. one on Mercury, there was more of a chance to be on a given
flight.


A fair point. I am delighted to see that Astronautix has a
surely full roster of his career, though, including two Mercury
flights --- MA-10 and a secret Mercury flight --- and Gemini 13,
plus a lunar orbiting Apollo *and* a landing mission. And then there's
the space shuttle work.

http://www.astronautix.com/astros/nelthony.htm

--
http://nebusresearch.wordpress.com/ Joseph Nebus
Latest: Reading the Comics, 16 May 2013 http://wp.me/p1RYhY-sf
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  #9  
Old August 26th 13, 12:13 AM posted to sci.space.history
OM[_19_]
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Default Could 'I Dream Of Jeannie' happen in real life?

....Note that I fired off my *second* e-mail to Mark Wade reminding him that he needed to update Nelson's bio to include his having taken his final flight on November 23rd of last year. His widow is still alive, and is noted for having not perceivably aged in the four decades in which they were married.

Roger Healey, at last report, is also still alive and well, having retired to New Mexico.

:OM:
 




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