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G0TEZ > TODAY 12.04.12 21:18l 51 Lines 1858 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 630316G0TEZ
Read: GUEST
Subj: 1st Space flight.
Path: IZ3LSV<I0OJJ<GB7CIP
Sent: 120412/1818Z @:GB7CIP.#32.GBR.EU #:31444 [Caterham Surrey GBR] $:630316G0
From: G0TEZ@GB7CIP.#32.GBR.EU
To : TODAY@WW
On the 12 April 1961, Yuri Gagarin orbited the earth for the forst
time.Not much later the Russians sent up Valentina Tereshkova, the first
woman in space.
What I found slightly amusing about the choice of these two ws that the
USSR belived in sending ordinary people on space flights.
In the case of Gagarin, there was another contender, German Titov, (The
Russians have no letter 'H' so he would have been herman anywhere else.
Tiatov was turned down because his father was a schoolteacher which made
him a little bit mor 'upper class' than Gagarin.
Valentina was just an ordinary worker in a cotton mill. She was suddenly
called into the bosses office and told she was being sent to meet Nikita
Khrushchov, the secretary of the USSR.
All the other countries have chosen, what would be considered slightly
more 'upper class' Astronauts.
The first British Astronaut was an exception. 1 flight was offered, a
couple of weeks on Mir in the 1990s. 150 people applied, which was
whittled down to a short list of three.
I remember the BBC interviewing the three and noticed that the two men
could not show any excitement about the possible flight whereas the third
candidate. Helen Sharman was struggling to conceal her excitement.
Sure enough, when the winner was announced, it was Ms Sharman. True, she
had a degree like all the applicants but was not the very best.
In short, she got her trip because she was a woman.
The early days of, what some men have referred to as th 'Gynocracy'.
I am very much against nepotism and the 'old school tie'. In my youth we
had a meritocracy for school and university entrance but that is long gone
to be replaced by jobs for the rich and upper class - sad.
73 - Ian, G0TEZ @ GB7CIP
Message timed: 15:57 on 2012-Apr-12
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