BS: Ground Control to Maj. Tom-They Made It!

Subject: BS: Ground Control to Maj. Tom-They Made It!
From: katlaughing
Date: 05 May 03 - 06:24 PM

Our astronauts who've been stuck up in space at the Russian International Space station made it back to terra firma, today and I think it is something to be noted! Of course they were stuck there because of the recent disaster. It would have been several more months, at least, before they may have had another chance to come home. SO...our two and one Russian climbed into a module which measured about 6 feet by 6 feet and headed for Earth! That they made it seems a miracle when you read about it. Here's a bit; there are plenty more stories about it at google news:

Moscow — It could have been a lot worse for the two U.S. astronauts and one Russian cosmonaut whose landing was more than 450 kilometres off course and whose recovery was hours late.

In 1976, a Soyuz spacecraft came down in a freezing squall and splashed into a lake; the crew spent the night bobbing in the capsule.

Eleven years before that, two cosmonauts overshot their touchdown site by 2,000 kilometres and found themselves deep in a forest with hungry wolves. That is when Russian space officials decided to pack a sawed-off shotgun aboard every spacecraft.

Astronaut Kenneth Bowersox said with a smile that he didn't need the gun in the Kazakh steppes where he landed Sunday: "There was nothing out there but grass and us."

Here's to their successful return!!!

kat

Subject: RE: BS: Ground Control to Maj. Tom-They Made It!
From: Gareth
Date: 05 May 03 - 06:55 PM

"There was nothing out there but grass and us."

Mellow were they ????

Gareth

Subject: RE: BS: Ground Control to Maj. Tom-They Made It!
From: katlaughing
Date: 06 May 03 - 12:21 AM

Better than than wolves, I guess, eh? LOL!

Subject: RE: BS: Ground Control to Maj. Tom-They Made It!
From: katlaughing
Date: 06 May 03 - 03:59 AM

A little more:

When the hatch first cracked open, the smells of spring on the steppes and the sounds of birds overwhelmed them. "Real earthy smells, because we'd stirred up a fair amount of dirt when we landed and then we rolled and were dragged a bit. So you had this fresh dirt smell, which was just a beautiful smell . . . and it had a little bit of crushed grass in it, too," Pettit said.

"Then the next thing that hit me were all the birds chirping. . . . It was just music to our ears."

Having come from almost six months in weightlessness, it took the three men more than an hour to drag themselves out of the hatch under the oppression of Earth's gravity and erect a folded communications antenna to help the searching planes and helicopters find them, they said.

"You'd crawl out. . . . You'd move a little bit. Rest. Move a little bit more. Rest," Bowersox said. "It was pretty amazing."

And he added, "I feel really lucky."

Subject: RE: BS: Ground Control to Maj. Tom-They Made It!
From: CapriUni
Date: 06 May 03 - 06:44 PM

Real earthy smells, because we'd stirred up a fair amount of dirt when we landed and then we rolled and were dragged a bit. So you had this fresh dirt smell, which was just a beautiful smell . . . and it had a little bit of crushed grass in it, too," Pettit said.

Sometimes, we earthbound earthlings take the most profound and simple beauties of our home for granted.

And this is a beautiful home. I pray that I never lose sight of that...

Subject: RE: BS: Ground Control to Maj. Tom-They Made It!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 07 May 03 - 09:57 AM

Yes, it is, and this time of year the yard is a very active place. Not enough room for a nosecone to get dragged around, but anyone landing in my back yard would find lots of birds, grass, trees, honeysuckle, and poison ivy (overlooking the creek, which removes some of the charm of that view!) and lots of little tarantula holes in the lawn. Imagine crawling along in the grass and realizing all of those little quarter-dollar sized holes each has a largish brown occupant. . .

I imagine the sound of bird calls would have been musical to them. And magical.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Ground Control to Maj. Tom-They Made It!
From: catspaw49
Date: 07 May 03 - 11:08 AM

While a neat story here kat, your thread title makes me ill. Anyone entering the words Major Tom in the search can see that Hawk and I are about the only folks who have mentioned this piece of shit song. Hawk doesn't see it that way of course, but then he's a friggin' nutcase so it's understandable.

"Space Oddity" ranks at the top of my list as the worst song ever....Ground Control to Major Tom, you really are fucked up....or whatever the words are. What a complete waste of notes and words......Major Tom, psychotic astronaut.........geeziz.......

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Ground Control to Maj. Tom-They Made It!
From: katlaughing
Date: 07 May 03 - 11:27 AM

I know, Spaw, I knew you hated it and I knew, eventually, it would catch yer eye...that makes me a sick puppy, doesn't it? And, I LOVE the song!!

Still pretty kewl these guys making it back..good thing none of them suffer from claustrophobia!

Subject: RE: BS: Ground Control to Maj. Tom-They Made It!
From: Grab
Date: 07 May 03 - 08:41 PM

"Russian station"?

Subject: RE: BS: Ground Control to Maj. Tom-They Made It!
From: katlaughing
Date: 07 May 03 - 10:54 PM

Sorry, my mistake. I've corrected it. Thanks!

Subject: RE: BS: Ground Control to Maj. Tom-They Made It!
From: GUEST,fretless
Date: 08 May 03 - 12:38 PM

Science fiction to science fact...
........................

The Green Hills of Earth

Let the sweet fresh breezes heal me
As they rove around the girth
Of our lovely mother planet
Of the cool, green hills of Earth.

We rot in the moulds of Venus,
We retch at her tainted breath.
Foul are her flooded jungles,
Crawling with unclean death.

[ --- the harsh bright soil of Luna ---
--- Saturn's rainbow rings ---
--- the frozen night of Titan --- ]

We've tried each spinning space mote
And reckoned its true worth:
Take us back again to the homes of men
On the cool, green hills of Earth.

The arching sky is calling
Spacemen back to their trade.
ALL HANDS! STAND BY! FREE FALLING!
And the lights below us fade.

Out ride the sons of Terra,
Far drives the thundering jet,
Up leaps a race of Earthmen,
Out, far, and onward yet ---

We pray for one last landing
On the globe that gave us birth;
Let us rest our eyes on the friendly skies
And the cool, green hills of Earth.

    -- Robert A. Heinlein

Subject: RE: BS: Ground Control to Maj. Tom-They Made It!
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 19 Dec 25 - 12:04 PM

Strange signs seen on the continent (of Europe)
This one got me thinking (and filking). It said "Fart Kontrol" (I think it may be speed cameras)

Fartkontrol to Major Tom.
if you've got your spacesuit on
All the gas you pass is stuck in there with you !

Fartkontrol to Major Tom,
You're now a walking methane bomb.
Keep away from naked flames, they'll be the death of you.

This is Major Tom to FartKontrol
My ass I can't control
And the gas in here has risen to my 'pits
And what is more, I think I've got the sh. . .