On the PR end, the spin doctors project that Nowak will quietly announce her "resignation" from the astronaut corps 3-4 months down the road, after undergoing treatment for her problems....'Paging Dr. Phil,' Formerspook at In From The Cold
This scandal of a love triangle, an epic journey, and attempted murder by an astronaut should not be regarded as a problem for NASA. For fifty years, astronauts have been portrayed as little more than human-like machines who all have the same smile, regardless of race, sex, or gender, all wear the same uniform, and are all so clean that they could play cards in the Clean Room at JPL and not disturb the manufacture of satellites. The Right Stuff counteracted that a bit, but the movie was about the original manned program's earliest days, long faded from popular memory. A few years ago, a producer on the Science Fiction channel tried to run a soap opera about NASA's shuttle crews. It vanished without a trace. This is not surprising. Who would have believed it? But now, as Formerspook suggests, NASA has received a great gift. Astronauts are just like Dr. Phil's guests. They're in the NY Post, front page scandal sheet stuff. This won't hurt at funding time. If the people know that real folks are going to the moon and on to Mars, they'll be a lot more willing to cheer more appropriations than they would be for perpetually smiling, squeaky clean robots.
;-)
Luther
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