I Love The John Glenn Model... I

The View Of Earth Is Spectacular From Space. Most People Imagine That When Astronauts Look Out The Window Of The Shuttle They See The Whole Earth Like That Big Blue Marble That Was Made Famous By The Flights That Went To The Moon. But The Shuttle Is Much, Much Closer Than Those Astronauts Were. So We Don't See The Whole Planet, The Whole Ball At Once, We Just See Parts Of It.

I Slept Just Floating In The Middle Of The Flight Deck, The Upper Deck Of The Space Shuttle.

Eventually Private Enterprise Will Be Able To Send People Into Orbit, But I Suspect Initially It's Going To Have To Be With Nasa's Help. Whether It's Going To Be A Consortium Or One Entity Remains To Be Seen. I Could Be Wrong. I Could Be One Of The Old Fogies! Rocket Science Is Tough, And Rockets Have A Way Of Failing. It Happens. A Company Has To Be Willing To Bear The Risk Of Its Rocket Failing. It's A Very Large Capital Investment.

It Takes A Couple Of Years Just To Get The Background And Knowledge That You Need Before You Can Go Into Detailed Training For Your Mission.

The Space Shuttle Is A Better And Safer Rocket Than It Was Before The Challenger Accident.