Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle Path: utzoo!henry From: henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) Subject: Re: Teacher vs Journalist in Space Message-ID: <1989Jan19.205117.17962@utzoo.uucp> Organization: U of Toronto Zoology References: <10373@well.UUCP> Date: Thu, 19 Jan 89 20:51:17 GMT In article da1n+@andrew.cmu.edu (Daniel K. Appelquist) writes: >Remember that the main point of the "Teacher In Space," "Dentist in Space" >etc.. thing was to show that space was safe. (ironically) Nasa wanted >to bring across an immage of these flights being absolutely routine, with >no danger... Uh, can you cite references for that? I've never heard of that as having anything to do with the "Citizens In Space" program (which is, if I recall correctly, the proper term covering all those efforts). In the accounts I've heard, the motivation basically boils down to giving the public some vicarious sense of participation in spaceflight, after the original promises about "routine access to space" were quietly shelved. The cuts in the C-I-S program have nothing to do with the changed perception of safety, except insofar as it offers an excuse to do what some factions in NASA have wanted to do all along: restrict spaceflight to career astronauts, and ban passengers on the grounds that they're too much trouble. -- Allegedly heard aboard Mir: "A | Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology toast to comrade Van Allen!!" | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu