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Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.space.shuttle,talk.politics.misc,misc.headlines,misc.misc,rec.music.misc
Path: utzoo!henry
From: henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: First concert from space--update
Message-ID: <1989Feb24.175109.11738@utzoo.uucp>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
References: <1885@randvax.UUCP> <10325@bcsaic.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 24 Feb 89 17:51:09 GMT

In article <10325@bcsaic.UUCP> rwojcik@bcsaic.UUCP (Rick Wojcik) writes:
>>A company in Los Angeles called Orbit Productions has been formed to 
>>stage the first ever concert from space.  A large portion of the proceeds
>>from this venture is to be donated to various charities.
>
>...  There is no justification whatever
>for sending Senators, teachers, and singers into orbit.  The Soviet Union
>shouldn't be sending up astronauts from different nations just to score
>political points...

They aren't any more; all future foreign cosmonauts will be paying
passengers.  It would surprise me greatly if Orbit Productions got a free
ride.  Almost certainly they will be asked to pay the commercial price
for their trip.

What, pray tell, is wrong with carrying people into orbit for a fee?
The airlines carry senators, teachers, and singers into the sky all the
time.  "Things that make profits don't have to make excuses."

You should not need permission from government bureaucrats to go into
space for purposes *you* consider worthwhile, assuming that you can pay
the fare and that there's a vacant seat.  It's truly mind-blowing that
to book a spaceliner seat in the "Free" World you need a very good reason,
years of patience, and approval from 57 layers of bureaucrats, while to
book one behind the Iron Curtain you just need the fare in hard currency.
-- 
The Earth is our mother;       |     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
our nine months are up.        | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu