posted 08-03-2003 05:11 PM            

I just finished reading your updated version of THE ALL AMERICAN BOYS and enjoyed it very much. It’s a “keeper”. Clearly you are very interested in resent developments in Russian space flight and I enjoyed reading your insights about it. However for that very reason I was disappointed that I didn’t see you at Star City and Baikonur in 2001 for the Tito launch or in 2002 for the Shuttleworth launch. I’m sure the tour company that handled those flights would have been thrilled to give you a free ticket just to have you join us.

Also I’m puzzled about the statement, “simply knowing you can die is a far cry from understanding the nature and range of the risks involved in the exploration of space.” No question that that is true. However I’m a professional pilot and even so I don’t know for sure what will happen from one moment to the next to a plane in flight, or a car doing 60 MPH or inside a human body. No one does. Is that to say I should not carry passengers unless they understand the risks as well as I? If they did they wouldn’t need me.

Thank You

posted 08-04-2003 04:56 PM               

I urge you to contact Mr. Cunningham via his mailing address posted under the Resources section of this site. He also has a website. You might fare better by contacting him there. Personal communication is probably the best forum for questions, rather than a public, "open letter." Are you really expecting him to get into a public debate/discussion with you here?

Forgive me if I offend, as I have absolutely no intention of offending...it's just that this is not the place for calling on astronauts to defend/debate/discuss their published remarks publicly.

My three cents-

posted 08-13-2003 11:40 AM            

I agree with everything you said. That post was not such a good idea.

However it was read by Mr. Cunningham and he is a real gentleman.