Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!casbah.acns.nwu.edu!accuvax.nwu.edu!nucsrl!telecom-request From: Arora@uh.edu Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: 900 Number Sweepstakes, Space Flight is Prize! Message-ID: <15465@accuvax.nwu.edu> Date: 18 Dec 90 06:35:02 GMT Sender: news@accuvax.nwu.edu Organization: University of Houston Lines: 99 Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 886, Message 4 of 4 [Moderator's Note: Sorry folks, I just couldn't resist printing this one. Do any of you watch the old Honeymooner's shows on TV? Do you remember all the times Ralph Kramden would point his finger skyward and say, "The moon, Alice ... I'll send you to the moon ... bang!" and he would slap his fist, scream and carry on? Well, the message which follows is almost as funny. And yet -- yet, there is something sort of exciting about it. I'd *dearly love* to be on a space flight, wouldn't you? This guy is gonna get a lot of calls, for sure! PAT] THE ULTIMATE For immediate release: 10 am Mon. Dec 17 1990 ADVENTURE 1-900-258-2MIR THREE TEXANS SEND "ORDINARY AMERICAN" TO SOVIET SPACE STATION Less than a year from now, someone will get the word he or she has been selected to go into space to visit Mir, the Soviet space station orbiting the Earth. It's the first time virtually everyone has a chance to become an astronaut. The astronaut doesn't have to be a test pilot ... or a scientist ... or compete against other candidates. It could be almost anyone from almost anywhere. It could be you. The three men who've made it happen are Texans, all from suburban Houston. Their company, Space Travel Services Corp., is headquartered in the Clear Lake area of Houston, right across NASA Road 1 from the Johnson Space Center, where the US manned space program is planned and managed. All three have close ties to the space program and share it's commitment to putting and keeping people in space. David J. Mayer, president and chief executive officer of Space Travel, studied physics at the University of Houston, where he was president of both the University Space Society and University of Houston Students for the Exploration and Development of Space. David has worked in computer system development and construction in the NASA area. He lives in Webster, adjacent to the NASA complex. His Space Travel co-founder, Howard L. Stringer, of Stafford, also has a background in computer systems and other high-tech fields. He graduated cum laude from the University of Texas and his Masters of Business Administration is from UH. Howard, too, is active in organizations which support space programs. He's a director of the Houston Space Society and has served as its president, secretary and treasurer. The third member of Space Travel's management team is James E. Davidson, senior vice president for marketing and business development, of Friendswood. Jim graduated from Columbia University, then earned his MBA from Rice. He's been working for companies planning commercial launches of space vehicles. Davidson shares Mayer's and Stringer's commitment to keeping men and women in space. He is, like Howard, a former treasurer and president of the Houston Space Society and serves as a director of the group. Jim's a former director of the National Space Society and is a senior associate of the Space Studies Institute. The company has a contract with the Soviet space bureau to put an American aboard a Soyuz space capsule with two cosmonauts and fly him or her to Mir, the space station in orbit 400 kilometers above the Earth. (400 km is about the distance from Space Travel's office to Dallas, but without the traffic.) Anyone interested in the trip to space can call the Space Travel information number, 1-900-258-2MIR for details. There is a $2.99 charge per call. Callers who wish to be considered as potential guest astronauts for the flight may stay on the line and register at no additional charge. The selection will be made next December, when an independent judging organization selects one person at random from among the registrants. That person will have the option of taking a million-dollar cash prize or, sometime in late 1992 or early 1993, riding a Russian rocket to the space station, Mir. He or she will spend about a week in orbit and then return ... a permanent part of space history. "We don't know who that person will be," Mayer said, "and we've turned over complete control of the selection to an outside firm. But it sure wouldn't disappoint us any if that person turned out to be a fellow Texan." ............. | Rikhit Arora And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod | cheehh@uhupvm1.bitnet The high untrespassed sanctity of space, | Arora@uh.edu Put out my hand, and touched the face of God. | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ [Moderator's Note: For the first time in a long time, I'm actually tempted to call a 900 number. Either this is a fantastic scam or there is a glorious day ahead for some lucky person. PAT]