Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!ames.arc.nasa.gov!mike
From: mike@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Mike Smithwick)
Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
Subject: Re: Space muzak (Mission Status Report  #12)
Message-ID: <23076@ames.arc.nasa.gov>
Date: 26 Mar 89 05:27:54 GMT
References: <18780@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu>
Sender: usenet@ames.arc.nasa.gov
Organization: NASA - Ames Research Center
Lines: 37

In article <18780@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu> bobmon@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu (RAMontante) writes:
<yee@trident.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee) <22815@ames.arc.nasa.gov> :
<-
<-In a reversal of traditional procedure, the crew of Discovery 
<-this morning "awoke" Mission Control with the theme song from the 
<-popular television show "Star Trek" followed by congratulatory 
<-comments from actor William Shatner who played Captain Kirk on 
<-the show.  Flight controllers followed Discovery's message by 
<-uplinking the fight songs from each crew members' college.
<
<This sort of stuff is starting to bother me.  I am all in favor of doing fun
<things in space, along with useful things... but I'm not (willingly)
<contributing my tax dollars to pay for cutesy musical wakeup calls.
<
[deleted more drivel]

Oh brother. I sincerely doubt that the inclusion of 1 extra audio cassette
(actually a substitute for one of the allowed music tapes) will significantly
increase your tax bill this April.

Right, let's outlaw jokes in space. No more wasted tax dollars on
sending greetings from the crew to their families, nosiree. Just turn them
into automotons, yep, "Yes sir" "No sir" types.

When you're dealing with something as dangerous as spaceflight, a good sense
of humor is absolutely critical and welcome.

Plus, let us not forget that many of today's astronauts were probably
inspired by Star Trek and similar such things in the 60s to go into science
leading them to their current post. Not to mention thousands of engineers
both inside and outside of NASA. I think Shatner's little message was
most appropriate.

          *** mike (cerbral GURU, insert M&Ms to restart) smithwick***
"Oh, I'm just a NOP in the instruction set of life, oh, ohhhh, hmmmmm"

[disclaimer : nope, I don't work for NASA, I take full blame for my ideas]