Who would you choose to be a passenger onboard SS1?

Last June, Burt Rutan offered CNN TV reporter, Miles O'Brian,
a chance to be a journalist-passenger onboard the Space Ship One
in the coming weeks/months.
Good Idea?...Well...Miles O'Brian is an excellent space-reporter,
who also has his own pilot's license.

Or who else would you select?
(1) Chuck Yeager? [He has the "right stuff"], but was denied the
chance to be an astronaut.

(2) Walter Cronkite? [NASA owes him more than gratitude].

(3) Jerrey Cobb? [She was one of the women-volunteers, NASA
trained ("Mercury 13") in the 1950's-60's to be an astronaut, who was denied a chance to go up in a Mercury capsule. Go buy the "Barnes & Noble" book: "Mercury 13" to learn her story; she was stiffed by NASA.

(4) That school teacher, Barbara Morgan?

(5) Sir Arthur C. Clarke? [Space Odyssey: 2001, discoverer of geostationary orbits]

Or who else would you choose who was denied, even though they trained hard, worked hard, but were denied?

probably Roy Keane then id blow it up in space and let him burn!

Sorry but it's true!

well if you put it that way then it should be george w., dick cheney, and karl rove who are in it.

President Blair and King Prodi of the EU facist super-state. Then disable the feather and aileron controls!!

Ahhhh, yea, right!

Looks like I'm the only one here who is sentimental.

I suppose if British space-enthusiasts were sentimental about space-exploration it mostly disappeared in 1945 under a rain of V2 rockets on London.

By the way! Whatever did happen to the eight intact V2 rockets captured by the British Army in 1945?
I know three were launched in Operation Backfire/Crossbow; military test.
One other was donated to the Imperial War Museum, south of the Thames.
What happened to the other four?

The Americans turned their captured V2's into sounding rockets, and
improved upon them by boosting their V2 rocket-motors and stretching their propellant tanks to get the Redstone rocket [launched the first American into space]
and the Jupiter [launched the 1'st US satellite into orbit].

This might explain why B.I.S. and its magazine tend to look to the past
and reminisce about "what might have been"; i understand that's a common British trait: looking to the past.

Britain has such a weak economy. I don't really see how it stay's afloat, there is virtually no manufacturing business out there. It's a shame but British people are also too full of pride and yet consider themselves the world's best race. It's all a sad delusion which i also bought into when I lived there. Britain is all negativity and complaining. When you ask an Englishman how he is, he says "not too bad" never anything positive, for that would be folly.

The house prices right now are out of this world. Britain is a failing country, luckily Britain had/has a slew of talented artists which seems to bolster the economy. British tv is the best however and British comedy in my opinion is quite sophisticated.

I would likely send whoever is in charge of appropriations for space.

They next to get a feel for the dream and there is no better way to do it.

hold on, tos*er uve got me on a hangover so ill save smacking u! ummm do i have to say hmmmm

biggest empire the world has ever seen?
controlled 3/4ths the planet
owns more than anyone now?
Has david beckham
Michael owen?
too expensive for any losers to live in because were all loaded compared to lonely yanks n foreigners, who we either built created or invaded to conquer!
we are proud bacause we are great or simply the greatest force the world has ever seen, not the french, the germans, the spanish, anyone had a chance when we killed them all!
yeah everyone is jealous of us cause they think they may be better but just look at the yanks cowboy attitude, even their soldiers know they are crap! were solid and skillful! look at the great scientists to come of our country!
i think no country can be great without a great past! we have eveolved as a country with a background and the knowledge of our future! like spain, france dare i say it. because the leaders and great minds of our truly dogz bollox country have lead the way we have eveolved. Our economy is amazing ill think ull find???????? employment is the highest it has ever been!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! a falling country, hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha i think ull find actually!!!!!!!!!!! a country with amazing scientists, enthusiasm and best of all we could still kick anyones ass at the rowing, and relay!

Rob

GSOQ

I'm not happy with the way things are. The only manufacturing we have left that is viable is weapons (Bae systems, Thales UK e.t.c.). Our world leading nuclear industry was hamstrung by the loony left who will soon realise that when the gas runs out , they will freeze in the dark. People whinge on about "fair trade" with the 3rd world (sorry for the out of date term). How is it fair for a UK manufacturing company to have to compete with a slave labour wage plant with no health and safety that employs children?

suggested passenger for SpaceShipOne:

Brian Feeney

you win, i don't think there's anyone out there who'd be a better choice.

What's wrong with the EU? The Eurotrash (not meant as an insult, just poking some tongue-in-cheek fun) seems to be entitled to their opinion on America and their (well-deserved IMHO) views on Bush, so I'm entitled to mine on Europe. The European Union has united Europe under one currency (except the UK, crazy blokes ), stabilized their economies and done a good job at turning Europe into effectively one country. I'm not in favor of one world nation (until we colonize Mars anyways), but I think it would be a good thing to see an end to all of the crazy European wars and bickering. Really, the Hundred Years' War happened about 650 years ago, the French and the English have no reason to hate each other.

Then again, maybe that's my biased American opinion. We think that you think that we're all cowboys and George Bush III's, which might be completely false as well. Anyway, I love Coupling, fish 'n chips, the French language, and jet engines, I don't hate Europe or anything. It's just nice to have some non-pc fun once in a while.

Oh, and you could actually land spaceshipone without the aileron or feather controls, but if you lost elevator control, well, that could ruin your whole day.

All the above choices would be good; I'm pretty shure that Miles O'Brien and Tom Brokow or Peter Jennings will be on one of the first tourist flights. Rutan himself may end up going on the second X Prize flight, as he alluded to in some press release a while back, and my guess is Paul Allen would be on the next flight after, perhaps with a reporter. Some other ideas:

Gene Kranz: Flight director at NASA during the Apollo days.

Sean O'Keefe: The director of NASA makes his first flight into space aboard a non-government-funded spacecraft. Hows that for irony!?

Lance Bass: I'm no fan of N'Sync, but he'd bring some publicity to alt. space and would probably be eager to go after the Russians snubbed him.

Any of the Mercury 13 or female Vostok cosmonauts: None of the 13 female Mercury astronaut "candidates" have made it into space yet, and only one of five or six female cosmonauts actually flew.

George Bush and John Kerry: Maybe they'd support space and NASA after actually going there!

Me. C'mon, please, please, please, please, please can I go Burt!?

I think he'd rather go up in his own vehicle, but that's just my thinking

Sir Richard Branson? Got the cash to pony up and with a bit of luck, the service will be so delayed Starchaser and Armadillo will be ready to go!

United Kingdom agriculture: 1.4%
industry: 24.9%
services: 73.7% (2000)
United States agriculture: 2%
industry: 18%
services: 80% (2002 est.)

(From CIA handbook)

Roygrif wrote:


I wrote:



We really should check these things eh...