Keith’s note: Yesterday 6 people on the Blue Origin NS-31 flight crossed the Kármán line and entered “space”. More people – some of prominence – now speak of the value of – and the awe encountered in – space. Alas, lots of space folks on social media say that they’re not “astronauts”. I wonder how many space fans would change their mind if they had a chance to do the same thing. Just sayin’. FWIW soon-to-be NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman (an astronaut) said this from a more lofty perspective:
Biologist, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA Space Biologist and Payload integrator, Editor of NASAWatch.com and Astrobiology.com, Lapsed climber, Explorer, Synaesthete, Former Challenger Center board member... More by Keith Cowing
1) Alas, most of us don’t have a billionaire buddy to give us the necessary ride.
2) Optics is not everything, but c’mon. This Blue Origina flight was NOT a good look at this point in time.
3) We’re going to hell in a hand basket, you’ll excuse me if I don’t feel like gushing because another man with a billion plus dollars buys his way to space and becomes an astronaut, is able to parlay that into a choice selection as NASA administrator, then decides to lecture me about humanity’s destiny to explore.
4) Lord I hope he turns out to be a better adminstrator than I fear he will be. If not NASA is doomed.
Isaacman has to be better than “astronaut” Nelson.
+2