On 11/17/04 9:47 PM, in article 03Umd.45151$V41.23702@attbi_s52, "Jay
Honeck" wrote:


On a deeper level, I find the enthusiasm about this scramjet flight to be,
in many ways, pathetic.

I mean, c'mon -- we're talking about an unmanned, rocket-assisted, 10 second
flight here -- which is somehow trumped up to be some sort of a huge success
for NASA? Worse, they're claming that they've "beaten the speed record set
by the X-15 some 40 years ago..."

Compare this sad little program to the heady days of the manned X-15, with
dozens of suborbital flights over a period of years, and you soon see what I
mean. It's hard to watch this new generation getting all excited about a
program that, in the 1960s, wouldn't have merited mention on the nightly
news.

But I suppose that's all they really have to get excited about nowadays,
with the space program completely shut down.

NASA has sunk so far since I was a boy...it is to weep.

I feel the same way. I have a hard time calling the thing a plane since it's
unmanned. In my mind, a plane has a pilot sitting at the controls.
--
Jeff 'The Wizard of Draws' Bucchino
Cartoons with a Touch of Magic�
http://www.wizardofdraws.com
http://www.cartoonclipart.com