That's awful! To think that you may have been chosen over another astronaut just because you got on the good side of the boss!

Yes, I read about the astronaut who you met. But there have been many people who single George Abbey out. There are astronauts who think that they will never fly again, not just that they will fly far in the future. I think that in Dragonfly that they said George Abbey was forced out of his position...

What about George Abbey, then?

12 and 24 hour EDMs? That sounds really cool!!

Yeah, but I was talking about George Abbey. He doesn't officially ground astronauts or anything like that, because he can't. He just doesn't pick them for a flight for the rest of their career. I think that it happened with Blaine Hammond, because he critisized the safety of Mir.

Yeah, my ASA team was really close, too. Maybe that's just how it is with ASA teams, because of the EDM and everything else where everyone is working with each other all the time.

One of my favorite parts about ASA was building the rocket. My group built a rocket with two stages, and we were just depending on the first stage of the rocket to catch on fire to light the second stage. I got the idea to douse the first stage with hairspray..... it would have worked, too, if only ...

I know of those, but I was talking about the head of the Astronaut Offices. I just read stories about him in the book Dragonfly, about never letting an astronaut fly again. I'm not sure how true the rumors are, but they exist anyway.

Richasi, which programs have you been to?

Oh yeah, and I've read horror stories about astronauts getting on the bad side of the guy who has the last say about choosing them, and then they never get to go up again! That also scares me!!

I definately want to become an astronaut. I'm not really scared about the work. I'm just scared about all the competition! I mean, most of the people who want to be astronauts are very determined! I agree that a lot of people think we're crazy for wanting to go into space. But it would also be a dre...

I don't eat meat, so I guess that changes a lot, but I loved the food there! I really did! I went to Space Camp four years ago, and then going back to ASA, I actually looked forward to the food. I, too, liked the cake at lunch, and lunch was probably my favorite meal. I liked the biscuits at breakfa...

I just read on space.com that NASA is helping to train Lance Bass in case the Russians decide to take him up! That mission is scheduled for October 28, I think. That's not a lot of training!

Yeah, I know! It's like no one cares about space since the Mercury and Apollo programs are over. It was popular and cool back then, and now you're a dork if you like it. At least that's my experience. It's sad that the Space Camp program in Florida is closing! If more people just went to it in the f...

I learned the happy turtle! I wonder why Marcus didn't. Do you want me to get my team from ASA to sign up here?

Wow, that's cool! So what were you at ASA? I was payload specialist (not my first choice but that's another story). As it turns out, I liked it a lot. I wouldn't have changed anything!

And oh yeah, I talked to my counselor from ASA today and it was so cool!

Yes, you're right. If NASA is against it, then so am I. The ISS partly belongs to the U.S. and ESA, and Russia shouldn't have other people up there. I think I heard somewhere that Russia was paying the U.S. for being able to have tourists up there, but it still seems wrong.

Yeah, you're right. I don't want Lance Bass to go up there! I guess I just feel bad that the people with the money get to go up and the rest of us can't. I'm too selfish!

By the way, who was your guest speaker at ASA, Marcus?