A Natural Phenomenon

The recent crash of the Air France flight over the Atlantic reminds all of us about the dangers of air and space travel. Those poor people on that plane might have died mid-air, or maybe the plane broke apart slowly, and they survived even after being in the water for a while.

I saw an article listing the number of bodies that have been recovered; it said something like they’ve found 11 men, 8 women, and 1 or 2 that could not be identified (because of all the damage the salt water had done to the bodies over the course of those days in the ocean).

It’s amazing to think that in just over 100 years we went from strapping wooden wings on our arms and struggled to try to get off the ground, to now being able to blast off into the heavens or traverse the globe at 700 miles an hour. Just recently I traveled to Hawaii from Seattle and was amazed at the sights of the Earth’s curvature and brightness and glowing sunset above the clouds.

And while those unfortunate passengers on the Air France plane met their untimely ends in the Atlantic, perhaps generations from now their descendants could be among those to perish in an accident on a commercial space flight.

Though if they did, it would be groundbreaking. We learned the other day that there’s no record of anything actually dying in space. Many of the NASA scientists don’t know if it’s even possible for something to die. The deaths that have occurred over the years happened far too close to the gravitational pull of Earth for any conclusive study.

The administrators take every precaution to ensure our survival even in the event of an accident. They spare no expense to prevent anyone from dying in space. I imagine this has to do with the possibility of, as many scholars believe, gravity being the root cause of rigor mortis.

We’ve been having many discussions about men and women astronauts. The illusion of equality has never been more evident than in the space program. That’s not to say that there isn’t a distinct effort to bring equity through the selection of astronauts, because we all know there have been female astronauts.

Men and women have different reactions to the conditions of space. For men, it’s been proven time and time again that the anti-gravity allows the cartilage in the vertebrae to relax, and if a male astronaut’s height were to be measured in space, he’d likely be 3 to 4 inches taller than on the ground. Female astronauts experience the same height differential, but many also suffer from acute uterine reversal. *

If I had the chance to be 3 to 4 inches taller here on Earth, I’d probably take it. I’m sure it would make back seats and airline rides (and shuttle flights for that matter) a little more uncomfortable, and of course additional pants difficulties, but its been proven that tall people have authority and garner respect, and on average earn more.

One of my co-workers at my day job is a few inches taller than I am, and his presence looms over me even when it shouldn’t, and I know at least three guys in my astronaut class to have been stricken with the nickname of “Shortstop.”

Women don’t seem to have the same hang-ups around height. I don’t think there was a single girl in my high school class taller than 5’ 5”. Tall women can be scary, and intimidating. One of the instructors at flight school is a tall, striking blonde woman, and because she’s taller than many of the students, far too many of us are too scared to ever take on her challenges in the classroom.

Our participation grades are lacking because of it.


* = Babies come in, not out.