Homer Hickam and his Rocket Barbie

I can just see the next Masa Plastic Model contest. Rocket Barbie, Rocket Ken, Rocket GI Joe, Rocket Barny, Rocket Pokeymon, Rocket Smurfs...

Shall we propose Barbielofting as a NAR event?
Barbie Duration
Barbie Altitude
Barbie Spot Landing
Extra style points would be awarded for outfit and accessories, to be judged by a panel of pre-teen girls.
Say, would losing the shoes constitute a DQ?
Bill Sullivan
'What are you so nervous about? We went up against the entire Earth Alliance, and two carrier groups.' 'Yeah, but this is the post office. This could get us in real trouble.' - Garibaldi to Security Officer, Babylon 5

Bill - When are you coming to PARA?

trouble.' Probably in June. I hope my X-Ray clone will be ready by then.

I was horrified after seeing the pic of poor Barbie ready to fly.... A blatant disrespect for her personal safety....what the hell would Ken have to say about this? It's a wonder he didn't give ya'll a beating!
No leather Cap / Helmet. No Goggles to protect her sexy eyes. Her clothing, (As impressive as it is) doesn't look like its very flame resistant.
And to cap it off.......the worst thing of all.....Her shoe's weren't even secure!!!
:-)

She flew a long time ago on Vulcan power at the Cape, too.
Blondes really DO have more fun!
Jerry

Nope. Barbie knows. It's all about her.

Ok, which is it? On Vulcan, or at the Cape? ; )
Randy

I am sooo Earthbound in my perspective.
Jerry

I think I remember him mentioning this one of the times I heard him talk at a book signing.
Bob Kaplow NAR # 18L TRA # "Impeach the TRA BoD" >>> To reply, remove the TRABoD!

Losing Barbie results in BONUS points!
Bob Kaplow NAR # 18L TRA # "Impeach the TRA BoD" >>> To reply, remove the TRABoD!

snip
That was great! Thanks for giving us the straight of it. : )
Randy

According to TRA/NAR/NFPA you are unqualified to have motors over 62.5g. Please conform.
:)

So what level do you need to launch a clustered SRB with a liquid sustainer.

What if the "liquid sustainer" was a water rocket?

If you're referring to the Shuttle, don't worry. I'm a well-known Shuttlephobe. If it was up to me, those tired old hangar queens would be dragged to the museums where they belong and we'd get on with a real space program with some new rockets and new spacecraft.
H3

Perhaps you should say that to the media so Congress is motivated by "public opinion" to do it.
It is 100% political after all.

I have. Here's my latest editorial in the Wall Street Journal on that particular subject, published last month:
New NASA Administrator Editorial Exclusive for the Wall Street Journal
So now NASA has a new Administrator, a young dynamic rocket scientist named Dr. Mike Griffin. I don't know Dr. Griffin but I wish him well. But I also have a message. Most of my NASA engineer friends tell me they're worn out. The way they see it, the space agency has become a grindstone where the hopes, dreams, and careers of engineers are crushed into dust. This has got to change or NASA is heading toward extinction. My advice to Dr. Griffin is to take two simultaneous steps: Put the Space Shuttle in the museum where it belongs, and implement with great urgency the design, construction, and flight of a new crewed space vehicle. If you don't, I think you could lose every good engineer you've got left.
I left NASA in 1998 to pursue a writing career. I'm sure glad I did, not only because I have a passion for writing but because I could no longer stand to work on the Space Shuttle. Twenty-four years after it first flew, what was once a magnificent example of American engineering expertise has become an old and very dangerous contraption. It has killed fourteen people and will probably kill more if it continues to be launched. The Shuttle has also wasted a generation of space engineers trying to keep it flying on schedule and safe. Frankly, that's just not possible and most NASA engineers in the trenches know it. Einstein reputedly defined insanity as repeating the same behavior and expecting different results. The Shuttle is a good bad example of this. NASA management keeps pushing it in the ring like a dazed boxer with a glass jaw and too many punches to the head and expecting it to win the fight. Not likely.
As soon as he's behind his desk, I hope Dr. Griffin recognizes that his most important job is to protect his engineers and give them something new and productive to build. After bringing the Shuttle program to a rapid end (tomorrow would be good), he should implement with great urgency the immediate design and construction of the new Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) that President Bush announced with some fanfare last year. From what I hear, the CEV is a higher-tech version of the Apollo spacecraft that took us to the moon. I know NASA engineers would love to design, build, and fly such a vehicle. Most of them have never worked on a program that produced a spacecraft. Never! Can you imagine being an aerospace engineer and spending an entire career designing and designing again, but never allowed to actually build and fly anything? That's the situation with nearly all NASA engineers except for the relatively few who work on robotic hardware.
But the CEV will need some nurturing from Dr. Griffin. There are powerful forces within NASA which will protect the Shuttle with a religious ferocity. If I were in charge, I'd do my best to convert if possible, or subvert if necessary, these cult-like Shuttle-huggers. It won't be easy. They are entrenched everywhere up and down the NASA organizational chart. Ultimately, Dr. Griffin may have to ask President Bush to step in and personally pull the plug on the Shuttle. I'll hold his coat.
As of right now, NASA says the Crew Exploration Vehicle won't be ready to fly until 2014. That's nuts. Putting it off until then is like saying you're not going to build it at all. And if our technological edge is so dull we're not actually capable of building it, then let's just give up and buy the Chinese version. That's not a serious recommendation, by the way, but it is kind of a wake-up call. Chinese engineers are doing good, cutting-edge work in space. In contrast, our space engineers slave over the tired old Shuttle, or do paperwork exercises, thus proving Einstein was correct, not only about physics but maybe insanity, too.
Homer Hickam is the author of the memoir Rocket Boys/October Sky. His latest novel, The Ambassador's Son, is published by St. Martin's Press.
You can see my other editorials about the Shuttle on the "other writing" page under "Books" on the website. It's been evolutionary with me. I used to love the Shuttle as much as anybody. Certainly, I spent a great deal of time around them training astronauts and I was on the SRB redesign team. But I have reluctantly concluded that if we are ever to be great in space again, they need to go the way of the old British Comet, the pioneer passenger jet that was plagued by critical design flaws that could have been fixed but made more sense to replace with new designs.
H3

I agree.
Like Chuck Rogers.
Except for black programs of course. They do not have as many political hurdles.
Jerry