Xref: utzoo sci.space:4460 sci.space.shuttle:504
Path: utzoo!linus!husc6!mit-eddie!ll-xn!ames!amdahl!nuchat!flatline!erict
From: erict@flatline.UUCP (eric townsend)
Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.space.shuttle
Subject: Payload of shuttle flight directly after last Challenger.
Keywords: Gak, you know. The next flight.
Message-ID: <347@flatline.UUCP>
Date: 1 Feb 88 20:30:20 GMT
Organization: flatline in Houston(Montrose, really), Tx.
Lines: 28


According to activist and musician Jello Biafra, the next flight of the
shuttle was to carring a payload of 46 pounds of *plutonium*.
He claims this is from _The_Nation_ and _Common_Cause_, who got
it from NASA, who "conveniently forgot to tell us about it."

What I'd like to know is:

1. Is this correct?

2. If so, I thought there was a law or treaty or something that we're
   involved with that prohibits the launching of radioactive material
   into space; and that this treaty was the reason we don't put nuclear
   reactors into space.

Can anyone confirm/deny/refuse to comment on any of this?

  [ FYI:  J. Biafra's talk "Why I'm Glad the Space Shuttle Blew Up" is
   about 3 and half minutes long, and has to do with the 46 pounds of
   plutonium slated for the next shuttle mission.  It can be found
   on _No_More_Cocoons_ (Alternative Tentacles virus 59) -- a double
   speach-only album by Jello Biafra; and also on The Birth of
   Tragedy Magazine's  _Fear_Power_God_ Spoken Word/Graven Image
   Compilation album (CFY Records). ]
-- 
J. Eric Townsend ->uunet!nuchat!flatline!erict smail:511Parker#2,Hstn,Tx,77007
Just another journalist with too much computing power.| 'Hey, watch me ollie 
'Girls play with toys. Real women skate.' --Powell Peralta ad.| this <whump>'