ISS pass
Bruno Tilgner (Bruno_Tilgner@compuserve.com)
Sun, 7 Feb 1999 07:58:31 -0500
I found Stu's (STUARTATK@aol.com) impressions he had when viewing ISS very
lyrical and poetic, until I came to the last phrase:
>Oh, and as an amateur astronomer frustrated for years by light pollution I
>have only one thing to say about Znamya: hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!
>:-)
This concluding remark completely spoils what has been written before.
There has been a lot of hysteria and animosity expressed against Znamya
in various astronomy list. But to see such opinions in a list devoted
to satellite observing is surprising, to say the least.
And mind you: without technological experiments there just will be no
lunar base, there just will be no manned flight to Mars or elsewhere
in the solar system and perhaps beyond.
The Znamya experiment would have been quite inoffensive. The flare of
light would have lasted hardly longer than one second for any one place.
Moreover, the targets were mostly urban areas where no astronomical
observations are possible anyway.
What is highly regrettable is the oversight on the part of the flight
controllers that an antenna would be in the way. Human error remains
the primary cause of all accidents.
This is my personal opinion, so please let's not engage in a battle of
flames about it.
Bruno Tilgner
48.85N 2.2E