msc@saber.UUCP (Mark Callow) (01/31/86)
> Jeff Okamoto ..!ucbvax!okamoto > Let's remember one thing before everybody else starts flaming about > the callous news coverage by the networks (ie, the "elation-to-tears" > of the crowd, etc, etc, ad nauseum). > > The ONLY video coming out from the launch site was NASA's official > news feed. So don't go blaming the networks for their supposed > morbid curiosity of the crowd's bemoaning the loss of the Challenger. Yes but NASA didn't show it over and over again. The networks did that. One time when ABC was showing the video of Crista's parents watching the launch, the tape went on the fritz just before the tragedy, the picture cut back to Peter Jennings, who said "we are having a problem with that tape. That's probably a not a bad thing." Bravo!! The idea that this accident might lead to cancellation of manned space flight seems to have been proposed entirely by the media who pushed the question relentlessly on everyone. It's quite absurd. You might as well ask if we should stop manned aviation every time an airliner crashes. The most fundamental reason for continuing manned space exploration is our economic future. All economies on the world are based on the idea of constant growth. This is much too engrained to ever be changed. Since our planet Earth is a fixed resource we will someday exceed its capacity. The only way for essential economic growth to continue is to move into space. I was delighted to hear Senator Garn touch on this question of resources though he didn't tie it to enabling continued economic growth. I am against renaming this group to net.challenger. We shouldn't dwell on tragedy. We must grieve, pay our respects to those who died and then look forward to the future. I suggest that those who support the renaming reconsider their choice after they are over the emotional shock. -- From the TARDIS of Mark Callow msc@saber.uucp, sun!saber!msc@decwrl.dec.com ...{ihnp4,sun}!saber!msc "Boards are long and hard and made of wood"
mangoe@umcp-cs.UUCP (Charley Wingate) (02/01/86)
In article <1924@saber.UUCP> msc@saber.UUCP writes: >Yes but NASA didn't show it over and over again. This is not true. At the U. of Md. library, we were receiving NASA's own video transmission (which some people may have seen on cable). What they did for hours was simply to repeat a short announcement, then show that very same videotape over again. Every two and a half minutes, for hours. Of course, they didn't have Dan Rather eagerly pointing out the details. This is the one time I really missed Walter Cronkite at a launch. C. Wingate