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sagancity2220
Guest
THE ROCKETS RED STATE GLARE: <br /><br />On Sunday I bought the Nov. Pop.Sci with Spaceship 1 on the cover - and @ dinner time we watched 60 minutes - again featuring the Spaceship 1 bunch. Those Spaceship 1 guys ( and gals ) deserve every pat on the back they get. I especially enjoyed the CBS 60 minutes clip of D. Rutan talking about the W. Von Braun presentation made to Walt Disney. Not to be out done was D. Rutan's own presentation of a space hotel and the startling vision of enjoying space WITHOUT a space suit. <br /><br />How much longer before we can beam up ? ? I can’t wait.<br /><br />Now for the criticism. During the whole 60 mins. presentation there was more than just an undertone of the rugged individualist, there was an obvious outright HOSTILITY to all things uncle Sammy. The very same uncle Sammy that is doing Shiite dirty work in Iraq supposedly in order to preserve USA freedoms. <br /><br />When you’re a DAVID, you always look good battling a GOLIATH. But Rutan’s cheap shots at the contributions made by Americans giving their best to America, was a dirty shame. I would love to see him explain to Gene Krantz ( Apollo 13 – hope I spelled his name rite) that the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Skylab, Robotic explorations of Mars, and the Space Shuttle was some sort of government welfare fraud or whatever. To hear Rutan tell it. the NASA era of early attempts at space exploration were all just a big waste of time. I would remind the good Mr. Rutan that NO business man spends $20+ m in order to make $10 m. <br /><br />Those early NASA boys ( like Rutan & Spaceship 1 ) had to build there own infrastructure, before a single successful launch could take place. Unlike Rutan, NASA was also tasked with being A REAL PART OF U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY. Remember folks, the U.S. wasn’t just tossing a few pleasure boat captains into sub-orbit ( something those rite stuff guys did 40 years ago – if the commercial sector is so damn almighty, how come it took ‘em this long to get thr