So
unless you’ve been in the hospital or on Mars this past week, I
can assume that you are familiar with the fact that some super
rich guy named Dennis Tito has gotten himself shot off into space
as the first ever space tourist. He was able to do this by paying
the Russians some $20,000,000 for the ride. The Russians said it
costs them about $10,000,000 to shoot a rocket into space and hook
up with the Space Station. So, we see that capitalism is alive and
obviously doing well in the old USSR. If they can make $10,000,000
for every time they send a rocket up, then I look for them to
become the Greyhound Bus system of the Galaxy. Keep this up and
they’ll be out of debt in no time.
Most
of us could hear the yells coming out of NASA about this concept.
Seems they were afraid that somehow this ‘tourist’ would
interfere with their work and damage a lot of their equipment.
Well, I’ve got a problem with that. First off, have we ever seen
one of our rockets go off without any glitches? I mean those of us
that have been around any length of time can always recall that
each mission is plagued with some wiring, computer, motor,
antennae or you name it that manages to go out with each
launch.
If
this Tito fellow wants to pay good money to get on board some
vehicle that has a less than perfect service record, I say let
him. After all, you have to remember that the lowest bidder does
build these things. Think about that as you’re roaring off into
the far, blue yonder. Now,
before you jump on me, I realize that each of these things is a
very highly complex piece of machinery with millions of parts and
operating systems. It takes years and years to design, fabricate,
produce and launch one of these into orbit.
My point is …how long before they get it all right and it
operates without any major glitches? But, then that’s another
story to write about at some later date, isn’t it?
Let’s
get back to the point at hand for this week, which is about the
space tourist. NASA really raised a lot of sand about all of the
bother that Tito could cause by possible disrupting the astronauts
and their work. You know, as long as I can remember all of the
photo shots that I’ve seen of any space mission, all of these
guys are floating around doing high fives or some such. I have yet
to see any of the astronauts inside of the space station or rocket
or whatever doing what I’d call work. They seem to spend their
time bouncing balls or trying to get some food product into their
mouths while maintaining a state of weightlessness.
Maybe
I’m missing something since I’ve not been to astronaut school,
but trying to get a Cheeto to go past my lips doesn’t seem that
sophisticated or something that might endanger the entire mission
if some tourist accidentally bumped me. Now, this non-work
condition doesn’t seem to extend to the guys on the outside
performing the EVA maneuvers. You notice I used one of those terms
that gets thrown around year after year …the EVA…I think this
means Extra Vehicular Activity or something close to it. Those
guys always seem to have wrenches or other tools in their hands.
I’ve even seen them actually turn a bolt or nut attached to
something or another, so I’m not in favor of letting some
tourist outside to drift around and get into trouble. Out of the
question.
As
you can tell, I’m all for opening up space travel to anyone and
everyone that can afford to get up there. Personally I wouldn’t
want to go even if I could afford it. The food looks yucky. From
what I can tell the sleeping accommodations are less than stellar.
You have to use the bathroom in a very strange manner. Plus I
don’t think they even get frequent flyer miles. Not my kind of a
deal…..for $20,000,000 I’d want something a little nicer than
this. Different strokes for different folks……Comments go to
www.pearyperry.com
