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Free Ride on a Commercial Space Ship

Posted February 28, 2010 8:02 AM

Rollout of SpaceShipTwo stirred many to buy tickets for a first ride — even though price is as high as final destination, i.e. space. Say someone lost nerve and gave you their ticket. Would you blast off with the other five passengers?

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#1

Re: Free Ride on a Commercial Space Ship

02/28/2010 8:55 AM

Do I still have to pay taxes on the ticket?

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#2
In reply to #1

Re: Free Ride on a Commercial Space Ship

02/28/2010 2:15 PM

no. but you have to pay for your baggage, cuz they don't ride for free

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#3
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Re: Free Ride on a Commercial Space Ship

02/28/2010 2:17 PM

Hmm, are you talking about... Maybe I better not go there.

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#4
In reply to #3

Re: Free Ride on a Commercial Space Ship

02/28/2010 2:30 PM

no not the wife.

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#5

Re: Free Ride on a Commercial Space Ship

03/01/2010 5:10 AM

If anyone wants to unload a ticket, give it to Alice Kramden. Then Ralph can make good on his perennial threat, even on a bus driver's wage!

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#6
In reply to #5

Re: Free Ride on a Commercial Space Ship

03/01/2010 8:18 AM

Hardy har har. You're a riot, Editor Crankshaft!

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#7
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Re: Free Ride on a Commercial Space Ship

03/01/2010 9:25 AM

My wife and I have DVDs of the earlier Honeymooners. What a hoot!

I see you have connected my "Tornado" and "Editor Crankshaft" personas.

Once upon a time, I was chief engineer on a Bering Sea crab catching/processing boat. During a moment of indecision as to which of two alarms to respond to first, I spun around about 3 times in a stairwell visible from the galley. That's how I got the name Tornado (and even an unwelcome serenade--1979). In another incarnation, I have done some editing in SF&F writing groups, including minor efforts on two best-selling novels. That's the source of the Editor Crankshaft moniker (I'm kind of a grammar/punctuation/diction/format Nazi; the "Crankshaft" comes from the school-bus driver in the "Funky Winkerbean" comic).

For theological ballistics, I have used "Eugen I, Patriarch of the West," but not yet in any public venues. Different strokes....

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#8
In reply to #7

Re: Free Ride on a Commercial Space Ship

03/01/2010 9:36 AM

Got a laugh at the mental image of you spinning in the stairwell.

I would hate to tell you what my colleagues call me.

Seeing as you are a practitioner of perfect prose and punctuation, perhaps you'd like to prepare for March 4.

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#9
In reply to #8

Re: Free Ride on a Commercial Space Ship

03/01/2010 11:56 AM

Grammar Girl rocks! Somehow or other I got onto her site maybe three months ago. There might have been a thing or two that I would try to tune a bit differently, but not by much. Even so, I have now forgotten what I was thinking back then. As I recall, she nailed perfectly a few things such as lie, lying, lay, lain; lay, laying, laid, laid. I don't remember what she said about split infinitives.

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#10

Re: Free Ride on a Commercial Space Ship

03/01/2010 12:23 PM

I would go - but not at the last minute's notice. This one is a choice - not a lightning strike...

Space travel is a thing you may not come home from, so you would have to treat it as if you may not come home. You would need a day or two to tie up all important stuff, get your finances in order, and check with the better half for permission/to hand over the will, insurance papers, etc. Call the insurance agent - so he can tell you that you are not covered - 'cause you probably are not. Have a back-up plan for financial needs if you need it. Take your kids fishing, spend a day in bed with the wife, etc.

Probably not much more dangerous than a day in surgery, but you need to be prepared none-the-less.

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#11
In reply to #10

Re: Free Ride on a Commercial Space Ship

03/01/2010 7:41 PM

I would go in a heartbeat. All the way to Mars. The paperwork is done, my kid is OK, I'm a widower, and my GF will get over it if I don't come back.

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#12
In reply to #10

Re: Free Ride on a Commercial Space Ship

03/01/2010 9:20 PM

Well, this is only a duration of less than 3 hours, and only a few minutes of that will actually be in space.

I think Apollo 11 took less time to get to and back from the Moon than it would for you to get ready for for this 3-hour tour, a 3-hour tour...

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#13

Re: Free Ride on a Commercial Space Ship

03/11/2010 10:52 AM

YOU BET, IN A HEARTBEAT I WOULD, WHAT AN EXPERENCE IT WOULD BE

Mike M

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#14

Re: Free Ride on a Commercial Space Ship

03/12/2010 1:15 PM

Personally I would definitly blast-off for a ride into space! Its just to bad we couldnt make a few orbits around our blue marble. I wonder what the astrophotography would be like? Is the ship gyroed? from 58flh

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