Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!iuvax!bobmon
From: bobmon@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu (RAMontante)
Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
Subject: Re: Space muzak (Mission Status Report  #12)
Message-ID: <18927@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu>
Date: 26 Mar 89 05:59:48 GMT
Reply-To: bobmon@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu (RAMontante)
Organization: malkaryotic
Lines: 18

Sigh.  Smithwick defends muzak in space, along with everyone else.  I'll
try once more, then I'll shut up.

I am not objecting to music in space.  I think it's fine that the astronauts
aren't being treated as humorless automatons.

I AM objecting to the media treatment of this (and other missions), which
emphasizes such things and downplays or ignores activities that have
scientific content.  I do not believe that it makes the space program more
palatable to people who are unsupportive of it; I think that it rather gives
them reason to feel that the program is doing worthless things.

I'm sure it did the shuttle crew much good to hear Shatner; I am one of
those who was inspired by Star Trek.  But it did me no good to hear that
the crew heard Shatner, I didn't even get to hear the tape itself.  Just a
report that THEY heard it.  I'd rather have heard about what science they
were doing that day.  (They DID do some, didn't they?  Or some
engineering, maybe?)