RE: [amsat-bb] Can Someone PLEASE wake up our US media

["MarkG" <markg@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Al Franken did a good bit on Saturday Night Live along the same lines. The
topic (on Weekend Update) was about how to get the "common man" more into
space exploration. His idea was to do something everyone can identify with,
such as to see how close to the sun a man can get wrapped in a single sheet
of aluminum foil. It was the more humorous side to the fact that if nothing
exploded, fell off, opened unexpectedly, leaked, caught fire, fell,
triggered alarms, used two different measuring systems or killed someone, US
media couldn't care less. Apollo was putting men on the moon like clockwork
years ago and received little coverage because it went so smoothly. NASA can
land a million probes on Mars and you'll never see a word of it in print but
if one of those probes misses, gets lost or crashes, suddenly NASA is a
bumbling pack of incompetents who should be disbanded. I see video of the
Challenger explosion more than all the other shuttle flights combined. Yup,
it's a sick, sad world. Thank God for Al Franken.

73...Mark - KB3CWS


-----Original Message-----
From: owner-AMSAT-BB@AMSAT.Org [mailto:owner-AMSAT-BB@AMSAT.Org]On
Behalf Of Ralph G. Sbragia, CSP, CHST
Sent: Wednesday, July 12, 2000 2:19 AM
To: amsat-bb@AMSAT.Org
Subject: [amsat-bb] Can Someone PLEASE wake up our US media


I know this is a little off topic but I need to vent to a receptive
audience:

As I write this Zvezda has passed through MET 1:00 and I can only shake my
head at the lack of media coverage.  None of the major networks broke in
with live coverage (or at least any coverage that was carried here.).
Neither of our two local affiliates (KTLA (a WB affiliate) and KCAL an
independent provided any live coverage.  At least one local affiliate will
be covering the story (KABC) but not during the first segment.

Considering near-by Huntington Beach is home to Boeing's ISS group (at least
it was, I think) I would think we have significant local interest.

On top of that, how are we supposed to develop interest in the space program
and basics sciences among our young people if we can't even share the story
with them?  I can still picture exactly where I was and who I was with when
we heard over the radio "Houston, Tranquility Base......"

I guess I just need to step up the timetable for getting DishNetwork so that
I can finally get NASA TV.  Internet webcasts are nice but I'm sure the dss
will be better.

BTW, I did call KTLA & KCAL and voice my opinion regarding the lack of live
coverage.

73 and best regards,

Ralph G. Sbragia, CSP, CHST (KD6FYT)
Board Certified Safety Professional
sbragiar@gwsafety.com
http://gwsafety.com


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