Priorities in government and space

On Aug 5, 2006, at 1:52 AM, John Frazer wrote:

> The big question is how will the public look at these things if, after
> people have been riding them, one of them does suffer a catastrophe
> and loss
> of life. You might think that'll kill them, but how many people
> look the
> other way at extreme skiing, when people die pursuing their
> thrills? This
> isn't a huge, hugely expensive governmental vehicle, so why should
> there be
> any outcry?
> Yet extreme skiing and diving with sharks are big businesses.

I imagine that an exploding manned spaceship will be the leading
headline for a couple of days afterwards, even if it kills only 1
person. People can ignore an exploding unmanned spaceship, but I
think the public will eat up news about tourists dying in space. At
least at first. Many times more people die in car wrecks than plane
wrecks, but plane wrecks are front page news, car wrecks are just
traffic reports.

Of course, it wouldn't deter me at all. You gotta die sometime, and
dying in space would be a pretty cool way to die. People who really
want to go to space will go anyway. People who want to go from New
York to Tokyo will find another way if space planes are perceived as
dangerous.

doug