gnu@sun.UUCP (06/17/83)
If anyone should go up in the shuttle, it should be Heinlein. His works inspired many of the current engineers, technicians, and designers who have put us where we are on the edge of space. He's also quite old (over 80) and won't achieve his 70-year dream of making it into space, unless we send him there quickly. He wrote a story in 1939 about the aged "father of space travel", Delos D. Harriman, who isn't allowed into space because of government regulations and his deteriorating medical condition. Harriman secretly outfits a down-on-their-luck engineer and pilot and they smuggle him to the moon, where he dies, happily looking back at Earth, just after touchdown. The story is "Requiem", and it appears in _The Past Though Tomorrow_, among many other places. I think that the least we, as a society, can do for Mr. Robert Anton Heinlein is to make a place in the Space Shuttle for him -- and soon, before it's too late. John Gilmore
myers@uwvax.UUCP (06/19/83)
Arthur C. Clarke should get a spot on the shuttle before Heinlein. I'm basing my opinion solely on the basis of the quality of their respective recent writings... "Fountains of Paradise" is a damn sight better than Heinlein's recent trash. Of course, most of Clarke's old stuff is better than Heinlein, too. My apologies to devout Heinlein fans. Jeff Myers@uwvax
gcsherwood@watcgl.UUCP (Geoffrey C. Sherwood) (06/20/83)
I frankly doubt the idea has much chance (a snowball's chance...) but what the hell. I do disagree with the Clarke vs Heinlein observation. Agreed, Fountains of Paradise is better than Heinlein's recent stuff. However, Heinlein at his best (such as Moon is a Harsh Mistress) is superior to anything penned (or typed, whatever) by Clarke. I like Clarke's stuff too, but Heinlein (at his best) is far better. - geoff sherwood - - U. of Waterloo -
tom@rlgvax.UUCP (06/21/83)
References: uwvax.934 <1883@watarts.UUCP>
WHAT! Put Lucas in the same category (much less the same shuttle) as
Heinlein and Clarke! No way!
The Star Wars saga may be entertaining, exciting, and cute, but they
are no justification for honoring the man in such a way. I thought
the original proposals for Heinlein and Clarke were based on their
attempts at serious scientific fiction and their abilities to postulate
reasonable scientific achievments of the future and their consequences.
I thoroughly enjoyed Star Wars, but Ewoks, ineffective blasters (and
armor), crash-happy vehicles, magical Forces, some nice asteroid shots,
and good-guys versus bad-guys plots just don't make the grade.
If we must round out a trilogy, I say we exhume the body of Jules Verne,
and give him the ride. Perhaps a burial in space ...
- Tom Beres
{seismo, allegra, mcnc}!rlgvax!tomjuracan@ihldt.UUCP (06/22/83)
How about Isaac Asimov for the trilogy, instead of Lucas? After all he won a Hugo for "putting the Science in Science Fiction". Teodoro Alonso ihnss!ihldt!juracan