New Mars Forums

Palomar

Member

From: USA

Registered: 2002-05-30

Posts: 9,734

Re: More "altruists" to board the ISS!

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/HerOrbit..._Space_999.html

Interestingly, these ladies are getting financial help to pay for their ISS stays. 

Yes, yes...it is "a milestone for womenkind."  Just like Ansari told us.    They're benevolent altruists who want every little girl in the world to quit dreaming about castles and pretty ponies (and for many the desire for a full belly and an end to war)...and to dream of space instead.

Why don't these people just admit they're in it for THEMSELVES? 

The women are especially sickening in this regard.  Just admit you're as selfish and greedy as any man could be.

And that most girls will NOT achieve what these women have.  That's reality.

"We're spending $40 million on YOUR behalf."    What a joke.

Go ahead -- while little girls across the globe dream of a full bowl of food.  Yeah, it's hard to dream of space when flies are crawling all over your face, you're drooling from heat exhaustion and you can't sleep because your stomach keeps growling.

--Cindy

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We all know [i]those[/i] Venusians: Doing their hair in shock waves, smoking electrical coronas, wearing Van Allen belts and resting their tiny elbows on a Geiger counter...

--John Sladek (The New Apocrypha)

Palomar

Member

From: USA

Registered: 2002-05-30

Posts: 9,734

Re: More "altruists" to board the ISS!

From elsewhere, someone wrote: 

Money creates opportunities.

Yes, money can create opportunities.  But at least be HONEST about one's motives.

I have much more respect for someone like Gene Simmons (KISS) who flat-out and upfront admits he's a "selfish greedy a**hole" -- and calls himself that! -- than I do these Space Queens like Ansari, and two other female enterpreneurs who will soon board the ISS, who want everyone to believe they're truly altruists at heart who are spending $20 to $25 million apiece on themselves in order to inspire girls across the globe on to space.    Which girls?  The thousands being sold into human trafficking sex slave rings/kiddie porn?  Girls dying of starvation and AIDS in Africa?  The girls being beaten and driven out of schools in Islamic states?

Anybody who picks up a guitar and tells you that there's some inner message that they're trying to convey . . . it's nonsense. They're not being honest. The reason they're doing this is they wanna get lots of chicks and they don't want to work for a living. -- Gene Simmons

Same principle.

Any wealthy person who stays aboard the ISS should upfront admit it's for themselves, their status and a desire to go down in the history books.  Otherwise don't expect me -- and others -- to be stupidly blinded by a fake Good Guy Badge.

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We all know [i]those[/i] Venusians: Doing their hair in shock waves, smoking electrical coronas, wearing Van Allen belts and resting their tiny elbows on a Geiger counter...

--John Sladek (The New Apocrypha)

clark

Member

Registered: 2001-09-20

Posts: 6,362

Re: More "altruists" to board the ISS!

I like to think of it as a potato, don't you?

Yang Liwei Rocket

Member

Registered: 2004-03-03

Posts: 993

Re: More "altruists" to board the ISS!

I think we have to be realistic about the space station, it hasn't been making the newsheadlines for its ground-breaking science like Skylab's study of the Sun, nor has it been able to produce the long duration space flights that Russia did wit its Soviet MIR station.

The ISS looked good on paper and it was meant to be the most wonderful station of all time, producing ground breaking experiments and real science . Instead the ISS has gathered bad attention because of cost over-runs, delays and it has made headlines by hosting space tourists like Olsen and Ansari.

The USA tried to cash in on the publicity of this whole tourism thing, with Christa McAuliffe but sadly that STS mission ended in tragedy.

If the space stations objectives are not finished and it is left un-completed then I think NASA/ESA/Roscosmos should be honest about this big contraption in space. I say we should stick a big Neon sign on the front saying 'Open for Business' and then all the millionaire tourists of the world can fly up, so the Dennis Tito and the Mark Shuttleworth can take photos
and maybe in way it can be like how people can claim they were there in this zero gravity hotel
just like people claim they were staying at the Hilton with people like donald trump and britney spears.

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'first steps are not for cheap, think about it...
did China build a great Wall in a day ?' ( Y L R newmars forum member )

dicktice

Member

From: Nova Scotia, Canada

Registered: 2002-11-01

Posts: 1,764

Re: More "altruists" to board the ISS!

A neon sign in the vacuum of space? Oh, come now--an aurora sign trailing the ISS across the night sky, at the very least....

Josh Cryer

Moderator

Registered: 2001-09-29

Posts: 3,830

Re: More "altruists" to board the ISS!

It is arguably a milestone because most "space tourists" so far have been, well, men. So if women can get up there via this method then good on them. Of course, it is sort of a charitable thing that is happening here (not from their own pockets), but still.

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Some useful links while MER are active. [url=http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.html]Offical site[/url] [url=http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/MM_NTV_Web.html]NASA TV[/url] [url=http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/mer2004/]JPL MER2004[/url] [url=http://www.spaceflightnow.com/mars/mera/statustextonly.html]Text feed[/url]
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The amount of solar radiation reaching the surface of the earth totals some 3.9 million exajoules a year.

Palomar

Member

From: USA

Registered: 2002-05-30

Posts: 9,734

Re: More "altruists" to board the ISS!

Stella Felix dreams of space too:

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/africa/09 … index.html

I posted about her months ago.

No update yet.  No fanfare, except this single article.

But she's poor...so who cares about her dream of space, right?

Sad.

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We all know [i]those[/i] Venusians: Doing their hair in shock waves, smoking electrical coronas, wearing Van Allen belts and resting their tiny elbows on a Geiger counter...

--John Sladek (The New Apocrypha)

Josh Cryer

Moderator

Registered: 2001-09-29

Posts: 3,830

Re: More "altruists" to board the ISS!

How many people on this very forum and online in general want to go to space? Isn't it a little silly to be complaining that some poor Nigerian girl can't go into space when pretty much 99.999% of humanity cannot go?

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Some useful links while MER are active. [url=http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.html]Offical site[/url] [url=http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/MM_NTV_Web.html]NASA TV[/url] [url=http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/mer2004/]JPL MER2004[/url] [url=http://www.spaceflightnow.com/mars/mera/statustextonly.html]Text feed[/url]
--------
The amount of solar radiation reaching the surface of the earth totals some 3.9 million exajoules a year.

clark

Member

Registered: 2001-09-20

Posts: 6,362

Re: More "altruists" to board the ISS!

Am I the only one that reads the articles?

Two women, co-founders of a social internet site expressly targeted for women, with the idea of creating an online forum and resource for women, using venture capital, to ostensibly raise awareness of their company and mission, as well as demonstrate that being a successful entrepreneur does not belong solely to the realm of men, and that there are no limits to what women can reach for, not even the stars.

I find it offensive and ignorant that any one would question the legitimacy of this on the grounds that there is suffering in the world. I find it particularly out of place here; where the underlying rationale of this forum is to one day colonize Mars. In the “Human missions” sub-group no less.

These women are no less inspiring than that poor Nigerian girl who shares a book with her class mates and was lucky enough to be chosen to get a zero-g flight. However, there are millions of people who are just as inspiring, but not as lucky, who will not get the same chance.

The two women who are buying their ticket didn’t get ‘lucky’. They pursued an opportunity, and they demonstrate that there are few if any barriers for women who choose to pursue a goal.

How this is lost on the parent of this entire thread is beyond me.

But I digress. Obviously the two women are selfish. Anyone who pursues a goal or a dream is selfish, you can’t help but be. We don’t pursue dreams for others; we pursue them for ourselves- that’s kind of the whole point.

Those who chase after their dreams are role-models, those that achieve them are inspirational.

But whatever, what do I know.

John Creighton

Member

From: Nova Scotia, Canada

Registered: 2001-09-04

Posts: 2,401

Website

Re: More "altruists" to board the ISS!

Am I the only one that reads the articles?

Two women, co-founders of a social internet site expressly targeted for women, with the idea of creating an online forum and resource for women, using venture capital, to ostensibly raise awareness of their company and mission, as well as demonstrate that being a successful entrepreneur does not belong solely to the realm of men, and that there are no limits to what women can reach for, not even the stars.

I find it offensive and ignorant that any one would question the legitimacy of this on the grounds that there is suffering in the world. I find it particularly out of place here; where the underlying rationale of this forum is to one day colonize Mars. In the “Human missions” sub-group no less.

These women are no less inspiring than that poor Nigerian girl who shares a book with her class mates and was lucky enough to be chosen to get a zero-g flight. However, there are millions of people who are just as inspiring, but not as lucky, who will not get the same chance.

The two women who are buying their ticket didn’t get ‘lucky’. They pursued an opportunity, and they demonstrate that there are few if any barriers for women who choose to pursue a goal.

How this is lost on the parent of this entire thread is beyond me.

But I digress. Obviously the two women are selfish. Anyone who pursues a goal or a dream is selfish, you can’t help but be. We don’t pursue dreams for others; we pursue them for ourselves- that’s kind of the whole point.

Those who chase after their dreams are role-models, those that achieve them are inspirational.

But whatever, what do I know.

That was very well said Clark:)

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Dig into the [url=http://child-civilization.blogspot.com/2006/12/political-grab-bag.html]political grab bag[/url] at [url=http://child-civilization.blogspot.com/]Child Civilization[/url]

Josh Cryer

Moderator

Registered: 2001-09-29

Posts: 3,830

Re: More "altruists" to board the ISS!

Hey clark wasn't even derogatory that time!   :evil:

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Some useful links while MER are active. [url=http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.html]Offical site[/url] [url=http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/MM_NTV_Web.html]NASA TV[/url] [url=http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/mer2004/]JPL MER2004[/url] [url=http://www.spaceflightnow.com/mars/mera/statustextonly.html]Text feed[/url]
--------
The amount of solar radiation reaching the surface of the earth totals some 3.9 million exajoules a year.

John Creighton

Member

From: Nova Scotia, Canada

Registered: 2001-09-04

Posts: 2,401

Website

Re: More "altruists" to board the ISS!

Hey clark wasn't even derogatory that time!   :evil:

I know deep inside Clark is still a genius. I think he is just getting old and cranky 

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Dig into the [url=http://child-civilization.blogspot.com/2006/12/political-grab-bag.html]political grab bag[/url] at [url=http://child-civilization.blogspot.com/]Child Civilization[/url]

clark

Member

Registered: 2001-09-20

Posts: 6,362

Re: More "altruists" to board the ISS!

Mars needs women.