I got a kick out of the headlines last week regarding the latest adventures of the space station that is sucking billions of dollars from planet Earth. This effort has to be kept front and center in the public's view, to generate enough interest so that the funding keeps coming. The headline read "Near miss in outer space" Apparently there was a chunk of space junk from a defunct rocket that was hurtling through space. Like our roads and ditches here in Canada, there is no shortage of debris and litter in space and it can be dangerous. But a "near miss?" It came within a mile of the space station and was being monitored every inch of the way, evasive action only a thruster button away. A few years ago, on a flight to Mexico, I happened to look out the window and saw another jet coming toward us, but at least a half mile off to starboard and about a thousand feet below us. I could not quite make out the airline logo but it was close. Funny how I did not read headlines the next day "Near miss in skies over New Mexico" And yet, when you think about it, we were closer and there were more lives on board the two planes, than on any space station. Can we conclude from this that the more money something costs, the more close calls it will have? Why do they even print stuff like this?
Click on the photo so you can read the funny quotes.
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