Discussion: Shuttleworth Returns to Earth

[Fraser]

SUMMARY: South African space tourist Mark Shuttleworth returned to Earth safely on Sunday after spending 10-days in space, including a visit to the International Space Station. Shuttleworth, cosmonaut Yuri Gidzenko and Italian astronaut Roberto Vittori stepped from their Soyuz capsule near the Kazakhstan town of Arkalyk, and were greeted fondly by locals, friends and family. To remember his trip to space, Shuttleworth bought the Soyuz capsule and his flight suit.


Comments or questions about this story? Feel free to share your thoughts.

[Josh]

I'm at uni with a south african guy who knew Shuttleworth .. he supposedly was always like that.

I didn't even know he'd gone again... what's going on????

That is a lot of money. I'd like to know why I didn't see anything about it on the news. How's the industry going to be opened up if there is nothing to inspire people. a commoner (regardless of his wealth) going to space and the undoubted awe and excitement on his face would sure go a way to getting others interested.

[Josh]

wait .. is this a rehash ?

[Fraser]

This is an older story, I just didn't have all my story links hooked up. The first time "Discuss this story" is clicked, it creates the topics in the forum. The Google spider just went through my website and followed the story topics all the way back to the beginning. So, that's why this story was added to the forum.

It actually happened like a year ago. :-)

[Josh]

right then .. feel free to delete my stupidity

[philip slater]

Josh, can you belay that request for a deletion? Stupid is good. We wouldn't be here without it. Stupid is good, that is, if being here is good. And used sparingly from time to time accompanied by large amounts of clever. We would never have left Africa, never "out-competed" the Neanderthals, never noticed that logs float even better when hollowed out and then gone for rides on or in them, never pegged together planks of wood into imitation artificial canoes and found the land of the free or set up home at the South Pole or flown round the world on a single tank of gas or floated round the planet on the jet stream or anything interesting if it hadn't been for regular inputs of stupid.

How many artistic, scientific or technological breakthroughs have arrived without a meaningful input of fortuitous serendipity or as you might say by accident?

Excellent creative misunderstanding involved in this turnuppance. I just noticed Mark Shuttleworth's name has cropped up. Inherently interesting person with regard to the story of the Earth folk giving in to the outward urge yet again.

Helen Sharman, Dennis Tito, Mark Shuttleworth. Where are they now? What do they want to do next now that they have had time to digest the experience and modify their own personal worldview from a new point of view? Do they want to go again? Would they like a sub-orbital flight just to remind them of where they are coming from? What are the most boring questions they have ever been asked? How can we find out what they really think? It would be nice to know.

Philip

[Josh]

Wow!!! I had no idea I had that much influence on history! I can do more stupid things if you like.


...perhaps they could answer the question from another thread. What it's like to look back at earth and how does it make them feel.

[philip slater]

Right on. No problem. Influencing history is easy. All you have to do is make like a butterfly’s wings and wave our arms around and you can in theory create yet more chaos, the basic raw ingredient of history.

Try it in a crowded bar or at a party, it works. Just talk, wave your arms around amongst people holding glasses and you can change your future, which soon becomes history, just like that. It works, believe me.

Hope I didn't over react when I heard the word stupidity, but generations of English and other freedom loving folk have fought for millennia for the right to do stupid now and again without a reason why. Like destroying our indigenous space access technology capability over the past thirty years and now even letting Concorde be junked just because our French friends forgot to sweep a runway once. Stupid we can do. Stupid we can be.

To answer those questions about what shows up in the rear view mirror why not quote something biblical like "Lot told his wife don't look back. So she looked back. And look what happened to her." Or, "She's an artist, she never looks back. So keep on trucking". When put on the spot by a question, never neglect the opportunity to change the subject, quote something or act stupid. Remember that astronauts have to be intensively trained in answering questions from people who are trying to comprehend the incomprehensible.

Philip