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This - "former astronaut Bill Nelson" - grinds my gears. Nelson doesn't even count as an astro-chimp - they actually worked their passage. He's just a hack poli
by pinewurst 2y ago
This - "former astronaut Bill Nelson" - grinds my gears. Nelson doesn't even count as an astro-chimp - they actually worked their passage. He's just a hack politician who influenced his way onto a Space Shuttle mission as a high status passenger.
- bdangubic 2y agoMerriam-Webster: an astronaut is defined as "a person who travels beyond the earth's atmosphere” :)
- pinewurst 2y agoThat's true of course, but the word carries a certain status that is absent in this case. Perhaps I'm just old, but I still think of people who've worked their butts off, not human mildew.
- gus_massa 2y agoThere was a heated discussion about persons that go inside a Dragon [1] and only control the ilumination and music or something. Are they "real" astronauts? Do they deserve the wings pin? [1] And others private spacehips.