"Jay Honeck" wrote in
news:V0z%j.185288$yE1.118457@attbi_s21:

I don't remember, but was anyone in this newsgroup upset that
Senator John Glenn got to ride in one of the shuttles for some
'scientific' reason after he left the senate? It was, of course,
made up science.

I thought his trip was useful because it made it clear that age isn't
the obstacle that many believe it to be.

Giving an elderly astronaut-hero-senator a free ride on the shuttle
(which, after all, has the capacity to carry him at no extra charge)
is a far cry from denying all pilots the right to overfly a dying
politician sitting on his yacht. There is no moral equivalence in the
two examples.

No extra charge? You are nuts. Go learn about the cost of carrying each
pound into orbit.