All female space flight back safe

[anniemae]

I didn't know this was happening until I was watching the news this morning before starting work. But 6 women including Gayle King and Katy Perry went up into space. At first I thought they were gong to the space station, but it was just a quick 11 minute blast up and back.

 

[bobbiwoz]

Thanks for the update. I only saw commercials for it, and had no idea what they would do.

 

[robinb]

I didn't know this was happening until I was watching the news this morning before starting work. But 6 women including Gayle King and Katie Perry went up into space. At first I thought they were gong to the space station, but it was just a quick 11 minute blast up and back.

That’s so cool! I didn’t know about it either.

The other women are Jeff Bezos’ girlfriend Lauren Sanchez, former NASA scientist Amanda Nguyen, former NASA scientist Aisha Bowe and film producer Kerianne Flynn. They are an interesting combination of celebrity fluff and former scientists.

 

[georgina]

I didn't know this was happening until I was watching the news this morning before starting work. But 6 women including Gayle King and Katy Perry went up into space. At first I thought they were gong to the space station, but it was just a quick 11 minute blast up and back.

I usually watch the CBS morning news show so I have been hearing about it for weeks and am really sick of all the advance coverage they gave it! Lots of fast-forwarding of the daily recording. Hopefully they will taper off the coverage in a few weeks...

 

[Turn the Page]

I still don't understand it. Ok so there were two former NASA scientists aboard but no actual astronauts in case of some sort of emergency? So it was just a fluff piece PR stunt?

 

[Wesley815]

I still don't understand it. Ok so there were two former NASA scientists aboard but no actual astronauts in case of some sort of emergency? So it was just a fluff piece PR stunt?

Blue Origin has been doing space flights that [wealthy] people can pay for where they launch up to edge of space and come back down within I think 10 to 15 minutes. They claim for research but yes PR I'm sure.

Huge debates if passengers should be considered true 'astronauts' or not. I don't care about that (pointless to debate random people online)

https://www.blueorigin.com/missions/ns-31

 

[BrianL]

I still don't understand it. Ok so there were two former NASA scientists aboard but no actual astronauts in case of some sort of emergency? So it was just a fluff piece PR stunt?

Well, that's exactly what it was. That's okay though - still cool for the people who got to go.

 

[tvguy]

Rich, entitled people choosing to spend their money that way. I wonder how much good they could have done if they had spent that money for a more charitable cause? Sorry Food Bank, my $25 donation is all I can spare.

 

[John VN]

A Tower of Terror on steroids ride without the interruptions from start to finish for people with $$$$$$ to spend.

 

[gsdweller]

I still don't understand it. Ok so there were two former NASA scientists aboard but no actual astronauts in case of some sort of emergency? So it was just a fluff piece PR stunt?

Calling them both former NASA scientists is a big stretch. It was a total publicity stunt. They were all just big pieces of Spam strapped to a seat.

 

[Marrila]

I still don't understand it. Ok so there were two former NASA scientists aboard but no actual astronauts in case of some sort of emergency? So it was just a fluff piece PR stunt?

Basically it was Barbie goes to almost space for a few minutes. Shrug.

 

[PollyannaMom]

I'm not sure how I feel about this. My first thought was "ooh, what cool mission did not hear about because I avoided the news too much?"

But then when I realized it was space tourism, that thought kind of deflated. I guess a lot of inventions start out as toys for rich people before they have a bigger impact, but the sheer volume of money we're talking here gives me pause about real wastefulness.

I'll have to give it some more thought.

 

[Minnie1222]

Rich, entitled people choosing to spend their money that way. I wonder how much good they could have done if they had spent that money for a more charitable cause? Sorry Food Bank, my $25 donation is all I can spare.

If it makes you feel better, just think of the amount of regular people who got paid so these women can go to space for 11 minutes. Their voyage alone probably supported multiple families for years.

 

[AppleDumpling]

I hadn’t heard about this, but remember a few years back when William Shatner did it. I don’t know that I’d consider it a real space mission. An exciting and unique experience for those who can afford it, for sure, but whether it has any real benefit to earth remains to be seen.

 

[robinb]

Calling them both former scientists is a big stretch. It was a total publicity stunt. They were all just big pieces of Spam strapped to a seat.

Amanda Nguyen was an intern at NASA in 2011 & 2013, conducting research on exoplanets. She graduated from Harvard and is currently at MIT. She brought research up with her on the flight.

Aisha Bowe worked at the Ames Research Center in the Flight Trajectory Dynamics and Controls Branch of the Aviation Systems Division and the AST Flight and Fluid Mechanics group. She went to the University of Michigan and got her undergrad in Aerospace Engineering and her masters in Space Systems Engineering.

They both sound like "scientists" to me.

 

[tvguy]

If it makes you feel better, just think of the amount of regular people who got paid so these women can go to space for 11 minutes. Their voyage alone probably supported multiple families for years.

True. Sort of like the 1990 Yacht tax disaster. Special tax on yachts that cost over $1 million. Rich people stopped buying yachts that cost over $1 million. Working class people build yachts. They got laid off. Federal Government paid out more in unemployment benefits because of the yacht tax than the tax brought in.

 

[gsdweller]

Amanda Nguyen was an intern at NASA in 2011 & 2013

An intern is not a scientist.

 

[robinb]

An intern is not a scientist.

Did you miss the part of her being at MIT and bringing experiments with her?

 

[BrianL]

An intern is not a scientist.

An intern can absolutely be a scientist. Maybe they're not getting paid for it yet (other than in experience), but they are doing science. She's not at MIT because she's not doing science.

 

[gsdweller]

Did you miss the part of her being at MIT and bringing experiments with her?

She is taking experiments with her that were designed by other people at MIT.