Not a lot of people can say that.

Anyways, Tracy's going up to the space station on Wednesday, 6:36pm Eastern. She'll be up there for her birthday on the 14th, and the kids at the day care I've worked at for 7 years, audio and video recorded themselves singing "Happy Birthday" and they're going to wake her up with that on, obviously, her birthday.

So yeah, you should watch the launch this week.



lovelovelove

debra

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shutt ... index.html

None of my friends have cool jobs

Is she the chick who tried to kill that other chick?

God no. You think they'd keep her on a mission? Tracy is sane. Thankfully.

ive been told several times that i belong on another planet...top that

i've been told several times that i'm from another planet...topped

Why are hemorrhoids called hemorrhoids and asteroids called asteroids? Wouldn't it make more sense if it was the other way around? But if that was true, then a proctologist would be an astronaut.
--Robert Schimmel

cool, that's awesome, I wanted to be an astronaut when I was younger

I love how the US Space Program is full of "token" astronauts. Seriously, are there any qualifications for being an astronaut, other than being an exceedingly good student and samaritan, and filling their racial/gender quotas?

Sorry, I'm an asshole. Continue with the pleasant comments.

Got rejected by NASA huh?

Seems PaperNapkinNotes' is actually quite qualified based on her biography. I'm assuming your rant is in reference to other members of the crew, and then I can understand.

Very cool. Who hasn't wanted to be an astronaut at some point in their life?

sure are, chief.

That wasn't really intended to be directed at her, seeing as I don't even know who she is or anything about you. More like, I just think the space program is a huge piece of shit, and when I see any kind of discussion about it at all it makes me angry and I start ranting about the nearest thing that crosses my mind.

This is an indication that B-hed should probably stop listening to heavy metal.

I'm not mad or being argumentitive, but why?

d

Deb, is your astronaut friend single? Because, ya know, I could go up into space with her so she's not deprived of intimacy. I would imagine that outer space is the worst place to feel lonely.

It's cool, I like arguing anyway. But I can answer that.

A large part of it is recent frustration, dealing with Bush and his stupid fucking moon base. The space program is mostly just a huge publicity stunt. Rather than focus on the best way to grow and learn about space and advance our technological base, it is focused on making the common people say "wow, that is awesome". It's all an attempt to get people to be willing to devote more money to it, but in the process, that money is much more likely to be wasted. The programs that are truly revolutionary and helpful for the advancment of science are the ones that get scrapped in favor of big projects that will look good in the spotlight.

Super colliders and the JPL are the main examples I can think of right now, though there are many more. Super colliders saw a big boost in the 50s, 60s, and 70s, with some of the biggest ones in existence being build during that time. But since the late 80s and 90s, nearly all of the super collider projects have been scrapped as too expensive. I'm not super clear on this information because I haven't read about it in some time, but I know there was a huge 54 mile long (IIRC) collider planned for Texas, and they even started to build it before all funding was cut. Yeah, they are expensive as fuck, but they also do more for physics and space exploration than any space shuttle ever will.

The jet propulsion laboratory in Pasadena is the other one. That is where the real research goes on. And I admit to knowing even less about this. But I do know that the space program money should be going to this lab, because some major advancements in our space technology need to be made before the true discover and exploration missions can happen. All this space shuttle and probe bullshit, for the most part, is a waste of time. The probes and hubble telescope we sent up in the 70s and 80s are giving us more information than anything done in the past 20 years.

The international space station, however, is a good thing. Launching missions starting from space is astronomically (ha ha) more efficient than launching them from earth. More focus should be put on the space station and how we can use it for future missions. But instead, G fucking Bush wants to build a goddamn moon base. I hope he chokes.

Right, like those astronauts who went up while they were trashed. I'm sure they're all sane. I'm glad they're the ones piloting equipment paid for with billions of dollars in taxpayer money.

I got a couple of friends who are ASStronauts. True story.

i know the leader of the Mole People