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From: fleischer@viking.DEC (Bob, LJO2/E4, DTN 226-2323, PC Engineering)
Newsgroups: net.columbia
Subject: \"private citizen in space\" is a poor choice of phrase
Message-ID: <1016@decwrl.DEC.COM>
Date: Sun, 9-Feb-86 19:41:00 EST
Article-I.D.: decwrl.1016
Posted: Sun Feb  9 19:41:00 1986
Date-Received: Tue, 11-Feb-86 07:17:23 EST
Sender: daemon@decwrl.DEC.COM
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
Lines: 48

"jer" of Concurrent Computer Corporation writes of Christa McAuliffe:

>I have since come to think of her more as someone who was apparently well
>familiar with the nature of the space program, including apparently the
>risks, and someone who, had things been different, might have been one
>of the regular crew herself.

Part of the reason that people like Sen. Glenn have commented negatively on
"citizens in space", I think, is due to the connotations of that phrase.

"Citizens in space" seems to imply that they really have no legitimate role
there.  It seems to imply that the person thus selected would just be the lucky
winner of the first lottery for a free round-trip on the shuttle -- on a par
with winning a free round-trip to Hawaii.  The phrase (ironically, in
retrospect) seemed to connote that the risky experimental part of space
exploration is over, and a new era of safe space travel was at hand. 

NASA never needed to convey any of these impressions in order to pursue the
legitimate aim of communicating the realities of space exploration to its
constituency, and especially to America's school-age youth. 

I think that NASA would have better handled Christa McAuliffe's selection by
describing it as a competitive selection for a "special mission specialist".
She would be a "special mission specialist" in the sense that NASA had no
continuing need for such a specialist in its astronaut corps, but did have a
need for this specialty on one flight. 

This is in essence what happened.  The competition was very intense.  (As with
the other astronauts, the loss of the cream of the crop of human potential
makes the loss all the greater!).  The person selected received a
mission specialist's basic training.  Ms. McAuliffe was in reality as much
a mission specialist as the (Hughes?) engineer on that flight.

I hope and pray that NASA resumes its plans for a few "special mission
specialists" to communicate better its activities to the public.  (I sure hope
that a teacher goes up again before another politician.)  But I hope they don't
call it "citizens in space".  That name doesn't do the program justice. 

		Bob Fleischer
		Digital Equipment Corporation
		30 Porter Road (LJO2/E4)
		Littleton, Massachusetts 01460
		(617) 486-2323
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"sweet dreams and flying machines in pieces on the ground ...
but I always thought that I'd see you again." -- J. Taylor