SURVEY SAYS . . . ASTRONAUTS STILL SEXY!

Of course, it helps if your astronuat looks like George Clooney!

Bolstering our ongoing argument that space-faring heroes can be just as popular in romance as cowboys or Regency dukes comes this astonishing data from Matt Novak at Paleofuture.com.  A 1962 survey of American women published in Parade Magazine found in the Cedar Rapids Gazette of Cedar Rapids, Iowa listed “astronaut” as the third sexiest profession for men, just after “doctor” and “writer”.  (Personally, I find the second one just as surprising!) 

“Scientist” followed just behind at number four and “engineer” also made the list at number seven.  Of course, “actor”, “athlete”, “airline pilot”, “architect” and “executive” also made the top ten.  But what I find amazing is the ladies’ love for what we would today call “nerds”, men with big brains.  Novak acknowledges there were no details about the women surveyed (who they were or even how many there were), but it is clear they had their eyes on the future.

President Kennedy had set the course of his nation with an emphasis on science and progress, the bright, shining symbol of which was the space program.  Is it any wonder that women who sought partners with money-making potential and good genes would look in the direction of science and space?  God knows what they were thinking about the writers, but doctors, scientists, astronauts, engineers and pilots all made good sense in that context.  Architects and executives were good bet, too, in a booming economy and an optimistic nation.  Then, too, the early NASA astronauts were test and fighter pilots, used to risk taking and hard living.  They had a very sexy image, despite NASA’s attempt to clean them up.

Ah, but you say, it’s a different world today.  Compared to Jack Kennedy’s Camelot, we live in a dystopian pit of despair.  A world of haves and have-nots, of lost hope and shrunken dreams.  The mighty U.S. economy limps; science is honored only in commercial application; even the space program is a shadow of its former self.  Unless we’re talking George Clooney, women don’t find astronauts sexy!

Or do they?

An Internet search revealed one recent Italian survey with rather mundane results on the professions women thought were sexiest for men.  One thousand Italian women were surveyed and selected “policeman” as the sexiest profession.  

 The rest of the top ten for the Italian ladies:

Caribinieri (rifleman)?

Pilot

Barman

Sailor

Doctor

Cook

Bricklayer

Lawyer

As you can see, there are some cultural differences to be taken into account here.  In no survey I can think of would you ever find “cook” on a list of sexy jobs in America.  The Italians take their food very seriously.

The folks over at Way of the Player.com, however, conducted their own survey of “hundreds of beautiful women” to give us a much more relatable list of sexy professions for men (and, in case you need it, a pickup line for each).  Topping the list?  ASTRONAUT!!!  Yes, in the survey, dated January 7, 2012, the women thought rocket jockey to be the sexiest job for guys.   After all, WOTP says, astronauts are “scientists with huge muscles”.  It’s a genetic double whammy!  Take that, New York!

The rest of the list:

Pilot

Fireman

Carpenter

Plastic surgeon (?)

Lifeguard

Architect

Bartender

Lawyer

Doctor

Sad to say, scientists and engineers have fallen off the lists.  Doctors are barely hanging in there.  (The reality of long years of med school, internship and residency before you get to the big bucks may be scaring the ladies off.   Or maybe it’s because more women would rather be a doctor than marry one.)  It certainly says something about our society that a bartender or a bricklayer or even a lawyer could be considered a better bet for a sexual partner than a physicist or a biologist.

But, hey, astronauts still rule!  Just don’t tell anybody most of them are scientists!  Focus on the muscles part.  And mention George Clooney.

Cheers, Donna

RARE BLUE MOON SHINES ON ARMSTRONG MEMORIAL

Today a private memorial service was held in Cincinnati, Ohio for former astronaut Neil Armstrong, a member of NASA’s pioneering Apollo crew and the first man to walk on the moon. Armstrong died Saturday, August 25, at the age of 81, from complications of heart surgery.

Armstrong’s death came as a shock to those of us with emotional and intellectual ties to the space program and the dream of travel to the stars that his achievements represented. He had always seemed larger than life, though his friends and family assured us he was a quiet and unassuming person.

Today, the family issued this statement regarding ways to honor the man they've called a "reluctant American hero":

To everyone who has so graciously remembered Neil Armstrong:

The outpouring of condolences and kind wishes from around the world overwhelms us and we appreciate it more than words can express. Many have asked if a memorial has been designated. If anyone wishes to make a memorial in his name, we suggest, in lieu of flowers, memorials be sent to one of these worthy organizations:

Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center
Neil Armstrong New Frontiers Initiative
PO Box 5202
Cincinnati, OH 45201-5202
www.cincinnatichildrens.org

Telluride Foundation
Neil Armstrong Scholarship Fund
620 E. Colorado, Suite 106
PO Box 4222
Telluride, CO 81435
www.telluridefoundation.org/index.php?page=donate-here

The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Neil Armstrong Scholarship Fund
AIAA Foundation
1801 Alexander Bell Drive
Suite 500
Reston, VA 20191
www.aiaa.org

The family made one additional suggestion of a simple way to remember the first man who walked on the moon. "Honor his example of service, accomplishment and modesty, and the next time you walk outside on a clear night and see the moon smiling down at you, think of Neil Armstrong and give him a wink."

Tonight will be the perfect night to do just that, with the blue moon shining above wherever you are. This blue moon, a second full moon in the same month, is the first since December, 2009. There won’t be another until July, 2015. So take a http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifmoment and reflect—on one man’s accomplishments on July 20, 1969. On humankind’s possibilities in the future if we would only be brave enough to follow him.

Donna’s Journal

While the dog days of August have New York's agents and editors in thrall, I’ve been working on revamping my website. I’ve moved my martial arts information to a separate website (http://donnafrelicksensei.com) and added a new page just for excerpts from my work. Check out my new look at http://donnasfrelick.com.


Cheers, Donna

What Does the End of the Shuttle Program Mean?

The Last Flight of Atlantis

It's an historic--but sad--day for our space program. 

Shuttle Atlantis will make its final launch this afternoon, if the weather cooperates, at the start of its last mission.  The Shuttle Program itself will end this fall.

We, as a nation, lost the ability to get a manned craft to the Moon decades ago.  Now we will be losing our shuttle fleet with no replacement expected for years. The end of an era is fast approaching and its a sobering thought for those who write SF and SFR, or those who look to the future with hopes and dreams of exploring new horizons in space.

Read more at Chron.com. 

Houston, We Have a Problem

I generally avoid political subjects like the plague (excuse the cliche'--maybe I should have said Romulan flu?), unless they hit very close to home.  The recent announcement of proposed cuts to our space program have left me wondering if the only way we humans will ever reach the stars is through our imaginations. This sinking feeling I have of an era lost and all our advances forgotten was summed up quite well here.

And here.

Where is our space program headed?  Did my current work in progress, Outer Planets, just move from the category of Near Future Romance to Science Fantasy? Can we even hope for manned exploration of our own solar neighborhood in the next century?

The decisions happening today regarding space exploration (and the funding cuts that are impacting it) do--or should--matter to us as writers. We view the 2001 and 2010 movies now with a wistful smirk. We are nowhere near as advanced as we thought we'd be when these forward-thinking motion pictures were first released.  A low budget little TV show called Star Trek inspired an entire generation to pursue careers in science and astrophysicists in the 60's so they could reach for the stars and make that fictional futuristic dream more of a reality.  Now, funding obstacles have pushed our goals back further and further, until we've reached the point those goals now seem beyond any possible reality we might actually achieve in the foreseeable future.

Can private industry pick up the gauntlet and take us forward, as has been suggested as the "solution?" It's a huge gamble, when projects such as Spaceport America are threatened by funding crises in the states where they are being developed. Although private industry may be able to afford to build the crafts, can they also afford to construct and maintain the actual spaceports themselves? Will major corporations--those with the massive funding necessary--see this as a solid investment or quick enough return on their capital outlay?  And will their focus not be on advancing our exploration of space and scientific discovery to improve health, medicine, food production (to name only a few benefits that have arisen from our space program), or will it be on commercial gain via high tech, high ticket amusement rides of near Earth orbit or the space station?

Comments by Apollo 17 astronaut Harrison Schmitt on Friday in a speech in Ocala, Florida:
“If it is a commercial effort only to visit the space station, then it is the beginning of the end of human space exploration,” he said. “Ultimately, you abandon the moon to China, you abandon the space station to Russia, and you abandon liberty to the ages."

It seems the "fiction" in science fiction romance is becoming the key operative word, as we face a very uncertain future for space exploration...or perhaps, for our future, period.   

Spaceport America's Foundation Banner

Recap of the Mercury Program

Continuing my Space Savvy series, here's a recap of my former posts on the Mercury Program, America's first venture into space. I posted this first round of articles several weeks ago. Articles on the Gemini, Apollo, Skylab and Space Shuttle programs will come later.

Mercury 7 Astronaut and Mission Recap

Alan Shepard - Freedom 7 - launched May 5, 1961, suborbital flight. Lieutenant Commander Alan Bartlett Shepard, Jr. of the US Navy was the first American in space, but not the first or the first human in space. His historic flight was preceded by a Russian dog, an American chimp and a Russian cosmonaut. After several delays he demanded of Mission Control, "Let's light this candle!" They did, and he reached an altitude of 116 miles on a flight that lasted 20 minutes. 45 million Americans watched. Shepard's flight answered critical questions about if human's would be able to breathe or swallow and perform basic tasks in orbit. No one knew the answer until he proved it could be done.

Gus Grissom - Liberty Bell 7 - launched July 21, 1961 after two weather delays, and completed a suborbital flight. Gus Grissom was a combat fighter in Korea who finished over one hundred missions, naming his aircraft "Scotty" after his son. He earned both the Air Medal and the Distinguished Flying Cross. In the early days of the Mercury program, Lieuteant Colonel Virgil Ivan "Gus" Grissom championed the explosive bolts used on the capsule hatches to allow for quick exit. Ironically, the bolts on his capsule spontaneously blew, resulting in the craft taking on water and the ultimate loss of his capsule with all its invaluable data, despite the best efforts by a helicopter crew to retrieve it. It was the only craft Grissom ever lost. Gus Grissom was slated as one of the first Apollo astronauts, but died tragically with two fellow astronauts when a fire broke out on the ground during training in Apollo 1.

John Glenn - Friendship 7 - launched February 20, 1962, first orbital flight, 3 orbits. Lieutenant Colonel John Herschel Glenn, Jr., a US Marine Corp pilot during the Korean war had three aircraft nearly shot out from under him but managed to land them safely. He was perhaps America's most famous astronaut. John Glenn was the first man to achieve orbit, considered to be the greatest adventure of the 21st century and helped the US catch up to the Russian's in the space race. He described the view as "tremendous" and said nothing could compare to seeing the curvature of the Earth or entire nations at a glance. He described mysterious fireflies outside his ship that raised concerns of the possibility of life in space. Those questions were later answered during Scott Carpenter's flight. Mission Control had grave concerns Glenn's Friendship 7 would burn up upon re-entry into the atmosphere when insruments showed the heat shield was loose. The straps to his retro pack were left in place in hopes this would hold the shield in place, but the extreme heat burned through the straps. Glenn splashed down safely. After recovery, NASA learned faulty instrumentation had resulted in a false alarm on the heat shield. John Glenn later became a politician and is one of only two surviving asronauts of the Mercury program.

Scott Carpenter - Aurora 7 - launched May 24, 1962, second orbital flight, 3 orbits. Lieutenant Malcolm Scott Carpenter, US Navy, was the second American to orbit the Earth. His flight lasted five hours and he achieved a maximum altitude of 164 miles and a velocity of 17,532 mph. He also identified the mysterious fireflies seen by John Glenn as frozen particles that he nicknamed "frostflies." After using up large amounts of fuel (varying stories claim sightseeing by the astronaut or a stuck valve as the cause), Mission Control was not sure he had enough fuel remaining to return to Earth safely. He was out of contact with Houston for over 40 minutes, and NASA was on the verge of declaring the first man lost in the space program when his capsule was found 250 miles beyond the recovery zone. Carpenter was fine. After a motorcycle accident that injured his arm, Carpenter resigned from NASA in 1967 and became the director of the Aquanautic Operations for the SeaLab III.

Walter Schirra - Sigma 7 - launched October 3, 1962, 6 orbits. Lieutenant Commander Walter Marty Schirra, Jr., US Navy, had a mission that lasted five hours, 15 minutes. He later filled the pilot command seat for both Gemini 6 and Apollo 7, participating in a total of three of NASA's programs.

Gordon Cooper - Faith 7 - launched May 15, 1963, 22 orbits. Captain Leroy Gordon Cooper, Jr., US Air Force, was the last astronaut to fly solo in space and flew a distance of 546,147 statute miles. His flight lasted 34 hours, 20 minutes, and he was the first astronaut to sleep in space. He later participated in Gemini flights and held the record for the largest number of man hours logged in space with 225, 15 minutes.

Captain Donald Kent Slayton, U.S. Air Force, the remaining member of the original Mercury Seven astronauts did not fly a Mercury mission due to the detection of a heart condition in August of 1959. He was later medically cleared of the heart condition and flew with the crew of the joint Apollo-Soyez Test Project in 1975. The successful test of a universal docking system paved the way for international cooperation in future missions. Slayton logged 217 hours and 28 minutes in his first space flight.

Note the short spans of time between some of these missions. When President John F. Kennedy set a goal for NASA to land a man on the moon and bring him home safely by the year 1970--only about seven years in the future at that time--his words were taken to heart. These six flights accomplished major leaps forward in the space program in an unbelievably short span of time. But Mercury was just the start of America's venture into space. The Gemini and Apollo missions to come would lay the groundwork to reach the moon, and to get us there and back again.

Earthrise

In doing my ongoing research on the NASA space program, I rediscovered this amazing moment in time. One of our first images of the Earth rising over the Moon. Some of you may remember the first introduction to an Earthrise in the old Tang commercial? The first view of Earthrise was seen from Apollo 8. The image pictured above is from NASA archive footage of Apollo 11. The quote below originated from an astronaut with the Apollo 14 mission.

The sense of wonder and achievement we once had in the space program has been lost, but for me, this sight rekindled that giddy feeling of discovery, of seeing the universe from brand new perspectives for the very first time.

The eloquent quote featured on this poster is by Astronaut Edgar Mitchell of Apollo 14:

"Suddenly, from behind the rim of the moon, in long, slow-motion moments of immense majesty, there emerges a sparkling blue and white jewel, a light, delicate sky-blue sphere laced with slowly swirling veils of white, rising gradually like a small pearl in a thick sea of black mystery. It takes more than a moment to fully realize this is Earth . . . home."

Our venture into space over the last four decades has forever changed our destiny and our understanding of the universe. Going forward, as part of my Put the Science Back in Science Fiction Romance campaign, I'll be continuing my Space Savvy series of articles focusing on the NASA missions.

For anyone interested in purchasing the poster, try a search on Google, Amazon or other sites for Earthrise. I don't want to endorse a product I haven't yet seen but I've placed an order for the poster shown above from the Tranquility Posters site.