Sunday 13 February 2005

Now Don't Worry Your Pretty Little Head About Space, Missy

It seems Chauvin is alive and well and in charge of the Russian Space programme. From MSNBC :
After addressing students at Moscow International University, Professor Anatoly Grigoryev elaborated in comments reported by Russia's RIA Novosti news agency: "After all, women are fragile and delicate creatures; that is why men should lead the way to distant planets and carry women there in their strong hands."
Permission to Barf?
Grigoryev, 61, has been director of the Institute of Medical and Biological Problems in Moscow since 1988, specializing in spaceflight's medical factors. He is an academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences and a member of the Presidential Council on Sciences and Education, and has enormous influence on the selection and training of all Russian space travelers.
[...]
At present there are no women among the approximately 40 cosmonauts in the Russian space program. The last female cosmonaut, Nadezhda Kuzhelnaya, resigned last year after 10 years of training to become an airline pilot. On several occasions, her flight assignments aboard Soyuz space vehicles had been withdrawn and given to millionaire passengers or astronauts from the European Space Agency.
[...]
The first woman in space, Valentina Tereshkova, was launched into orbit in June 1963...
[...]
Tereshkova's husband, fellow cosmonaut Andrian Nikolayev, elaborated: "Nowadays we keep our women here on earth. We love our women very much; we spare them as much as possible. However, in the future, they will surely work on board space stations, but as specialists ; as doctors, as geologists, as astronomers and, of course, as stewardesses."
As stewardesses. Of course.
Less than a month into her run, Lapierre suddenly encountered serious problems. She was twice forcibly French-kissed by the Russian team commander, and soon afterwards witnessed a 10-minute-long fight between two Russians that left blood spattered on the walls.
[...]
Following the incident, Gushin blamed Lapierre. His official report, which Lapierre has seen, saud she had "ruined the mission, the atmosphere, by refusing to be kissed." She should have been taken out, he wrote, and he also insisted that the foreigners had caused the fight.
I'd love to be present at a spirited, even vigourous conversation between some of these people and someone like HakMao.

Hat Tip : Cumudgeon's Corner

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