Comments on: On William Wordsworth, St. Paul, and the International Space Station http://firstthings.com/blogs/evangel/2010/02/on-william-wordsworth-st-paul-and-the-international-space-station/ A First Things Blog Tue, 06 Nov 2012 13:35:02 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.2 By: Rev. Paul T. McCain http://firstthings.com/blogs/evangel/2010/02/on-william-wordsworth-st-paul-and-the-international-space-station/#comment-6578 Rev. Paul T. McCain Thu, 18 Feb 2010 01:38:43 +0000 http://firstthings.com/blogs/evangel/?p=4220#comment-6578 Mr. Fant, please permit me, with respect, to respond to your post and hopefully change your mind a bit. I don't disagree with the overall point you are making, but I just think you chose the wrong examples to make your point. I know Col. Williams personally. Personal internet use on the ISS is extremely limited. His time and bandwidth is restricted. It is by no means the case that he has a laptop floating around up there that he can just get on and surf the Internet. Apparently NASA agrees with you that their astronauts have a few more things to do than surfing the web! This is very much a working scientific mission and Col. Williams and his crew is kept incredibly busy by the demanding schedule in which he works. This is Col. Williams second six-month sojourn on the ISS. I can't begin to imagine the challenge of being in a gravity-free environment, for six long months, drinking "recycled" water and breathing recycled air. My admiration for him and his colleagues who do this is beyond words. I think we can permit them a "diversion" which consists of communicating with friends and family via the Internet. Col. Williams has amply demonstrated he loves the beauty of God's creation, and thanks for pointing to his book which is proof positive that Col. Williams certainly is not one of those who is neglecting the opportunity to appreciate the beauty of Creation, the work of His hands. Mr. Fant, please permit me, with respect, to respond to your post and hopefully change your mind a bit. I don’t disagree with the overall point you are making, but I just think you chose the wrong examples to make your point.

I know Col. Williams personally. Personal internet use on the ISS is extremely limited. His time and bandwidth is restricted. It is by no means the case that he has a laptop floating around up there that he can just get on and surf the Internet. Apparently NASA agrees with you that their astronauts have a few more things to do than surfing the web!

This is very much a working scientific mission and Col. Williams and his crew is kept incredibly busy by the demanding schedule in which he works. This is Col. Williams second six-month sojourn on the ISS. I can’t begin to imagine the challenge of being in a gravity-free environment, for six long months, drinking “recycled” water and breathing recycled air. My admiration for him and his colleagues who do this is beyond words. I think we can permit them a “diversion” which consists of communicating with friends and family via the Internet.

Col. Williams has amply demonstrated he loves the beauty of God’s creation, and thanks for pointing to his book which is proof positive that Col. Williams certainly is not one of those who is neglecting the opportunity to appreciate the beauty of Creation, the work of His hands.

]]> By: Joi http://firstthings.com/blogs/evangel/2010/02/on-william-wordsworth-st-paul-and-the-international-space-station/#comment-6576 Joi Thu, 18 Feb 2010 00:26:02 +0000 http://firstthings.com/blogs/evangel/?p=4220#comment-6576 In defense of the astronauts Tweeting--it's been phenomenal for those of us who are sadly earthbound. @Astro_Soichi keeps sending a steady stream of truly amazing photographs of Earth, and having such easy access to photos, video, and even personnel from the ISS and Shuttle is fantastic for driving interest in human spaceflight. And this means that more and more of us get to see more of this amazing creation. (I just gotta give props to NASA for making so much of their data and photos accessible to so many people. It's astounding!) In defense of the astronauts Tweeting–it’s been phenomenal for those of us who are sadly earthbound. @Astro_Soichi keeps sending a steady stream of truly amazing photographs of Earth, and having such easy access to photos, video, and even personnel from the ISS and Shuttle is fantastic for driving interest in human spaceflight. And this means that more and more of us get to see more of this amazing creation.

(I just gotta give props to NASA for making so much of their data and photos accessible to so many people. It’s astounding!)

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