Dear Group,
I found another item while surfing the Net that I thought
would interest you.
Houston, TX---NASA engineers, preparing for the proposed
manned mission to Mars in the year 2004, have been busy
designing human isolation experiments to study the effects of
long periods of solitude which the team of astronauts will
face during the upcoming 33-month manned mission to the Red
Planet.
A NASA spokesman said they became interested in the
similarities between space voyaging and long-distance,
non-stop ocean cruising such as that proposed by Reid Stowe
who is soon to attempt a record-breaking, 1000 day, non-stop
around the world trip for as many times as it takes. Among
other things, Stowe's vessel, ANNE, a 70-foot schooner will be
stocked with 12,000 pounds of food for the voyage. Stowe will
be calling his record-breaking attempt, 'Mars Odyssey,' in
tribute to the space farers of tommorrow. "Humans are evolving
off the Earth and into space," he says, "So, in a way, we're
part of the vanguard of the future."
"Something like this is exactly what we have been looking
for," Charles Kelly, NASA Engineer, stated while being
interviewed by this reporter recently about the training for
the Mars mission, "However, a 70-foot schooner on its way
around the world is not the best way to conduct an isolation
study. What we had in mind was using several smaller vessels
under more controlled circumstances such as those found in
computer simulation isolation tanks. Our astronauts are too
valuable to risk on the high seas!"
When pressed for details, Kelly continued, "To make the study
more realistic, we need a more spartan existence for the
astronauts; something similar to what they will be subjected
to in space. A 70-foot schooner is just much too spacious and
accommodating, I'm afraid. The main qualities of a proper NASA
training vessel have been determined to be the following: 1) a
white, sterile, glossy interior mostly of plastic, 2) none of
what is considered to be the modern-day conveniences, 3) a
structure that is very light, thin and somewhat flexible that
makes the occupant accutely aware of his vulnerability to the
elements, 4) something cheap, this is taxpayer money, after
all, 5) something that nobody else could possibly want and
which can be happily discarded after the study. 6) something
extremely light and easily transportable. 7) something that is
just plain ugly---remember how 'cute' everybody thought the
Mars Rover was?---can't have any more of that."
How long will it take to design and produce such as vessel?
Kelly indicated that designing and producing the perfect
vessel would not be necessary. "It is already being
mass-produced at this very moment," Kelly beamed, "As a matter
of fact, we have just signed a contract to have 20 such
vessels built and delivered by the end of the month."
secret." replied Kelly, "We put the specs out to the lowest
bidder and MacGregor Yachts won the bidding by a wide margin.
For $998 each, they will be delivering twenty Mac26X's and our
deprivation studies will start soon after delivery!"
