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[::..about this blog..::]
"...all these worlds..." is a blog by David Hitt. It covers space exploration, decent science fiction, humor (by its very nature), and whatever else I happen to find cool. (Formerly "You Must Fight The Bear")
Name: David Hitt About Me: Inspiring the next generation of explorers... See my complete profile
[::..disclaimer..::]
The opinions expressed on this page are those of the author, and very likely no one else.
[::..archive..::]
:: Monday, April 28, 2003 ::
Striving For Accuarcy OK, I take real exception to Reuters' headline "Soyuz Relieves Stranded U.S.-Russian Space Crew". At no time were the members of Expedition Six "stranded" on ISS. Anytime they wanted to, they could have come on. I find it irresponsible for them to lead people to believe that the crew was somehow stuck on Station if anything bad had happened. This story is also an example of some interesting semantics this spaceflight has brought up--it reports, as have several others, that the Expedition 6 crew will include the first "U.S. astronauts" (or "American astronauts" in other stories) to come home on a Russian vessel. Well, that depends on what an astronaut is. The Webster's definition is "a person who travels beyond the earth's atmosphere." By that definition, Dennis Tito, the California businessman who bought a Soyuz ticket to ISS, would qualify as both American and an astronaut. NASA's definition is a little more technical (according to the JSC Web site, Christa McAuliffe was not an astronaut, but rather a payload specialist), and would preclude Tito. It's really no big deal at the moment, but it IS a semantic issue that will have to be worked out when people start seriously trying to win the X Prize--will the first person to fly into space in their own private spacecraft be an astronaut?