Big Bird agreed to board doomed Challenger space shuttle, escaped death by being too big

New York Daily news ^ | May 6, 2015

[SMGFan]

Big Bird almost had a seat on the doomed Challenger space shuttle which exploded just seconds after take-off in 1986, killing seven people onboard, a documentary on the beloved "Sesame Street" character has revealed.

"It made my scalp crawl to think I was supposed to be on that," Caroll Spinney, the man who has donned the 8-foot-2 yellow bird costume since 1969, recalled.

NASA had initially wanted Spinney to be sent into space to get children more excited about its space program, according to the film "I Am Bird Bird."

[SMGFan]

preschoolers would have been more aware of the events that day.

[JoeProBono]

[shove_it]

This lucky Icarus wannabe escaped doom by being too big...

[kaehurowing]

I bet they really regretted letting Bert go to Afghanistan, since he joined Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden once he got there.

[Alberta's Child]

If this is true, then it confirms what I've said for years about the Challenger disaster. You can place the blame for the disaster squarely on a U.S. space agency that had turned the space shuttle program into little more than a public relations stunt. The Challenger was lost because NASA, from top to bottom, ran the space shuttle launch no more seriously than they would treat a school bus ride on a class trip.

[ClearCase_guy]

I think that’s true.

I think one could also make the case that the US military of the present day is largely an exercise in social engineering and political correctness. We do not intend to fight any serious wars. But we do intend to make sure women can be SEALs, and men can wear high heels.

[Oliviaforever]

What about Bert & Ernie?

[golux]

[re_nortex]

The Challenger was lost because NASA, from top to bottom, ran the space shuttle launch no more seriously than they would treat a school bus ride on a class trip.

More proof of the 'RAT agenda to weaken America. The 99th Congress (House) was firmly in 'RAT hands that year and the Senate had only a small GOP lead. No wonder this happened.

[boop]

It saddens me to say so, but I agree.

That crew from the Challenger was about as PC diverse as you can get.

If they were the absolute BEST astronauts at the time, I'll eat my words.

BTW, Spinney saying he was turned down because he was "too big" is ridiculous.

He wouldn't be wearing the Big Bird costume ALL THE TIME.

[dsrtsage]

[Alberta's Child]

Actually, the facts would bear out that the space shuttle program was a disaster from the start, and never should have been funded in the first place.

[Rebelbase]

That is disturbing.

[tanknetter]

But thats how NASA sold the shuttle to America: easy and cheap access to space. A mission every week. Etc.

But once they got their school bus, they learned that it wasnt exactly sexy. And that it wasn’t as cheap and efficient as promises. So the public started losing interest, and the folks with the money started sharpening their knives. NASA decided to both sex up the program with stunts like the Teacher in Space and take all sorts of risks in pushing the launch schedule way beyond what was feasible.

[Alberta's Child]

If you want some evidence that the Challenger crew was nothing more than a PC show, just look at what happened over the next few years. Once the shuttle program got back on track, the silly nonsense took a back seat to high-priority missions and military payloads. The next mission was a Discovery flight almost three years later in late 1988. This is what the crews of the next three missions -- from September 1988 to March 1989 -- looked like:

I think I see a pattern here. When things really matter, they send the Aryan males into space.

[max americana]

Yup. It’s like the analogy “why aren’t there a lot of blacks?” in baseball. These clowns were more concerned on image and pc-ness than substance and what we got was a tragedy.

[BBell]

I heard He and Ernie had a reunion there.

[Boogieman]

[kaehurowing]

They certainly make a sweet couple!

[TheCipher]

That crew from the Challenger was about as PC diverse as you can get.

I remember when they announced the winner.The person who came in 2nd place was way more qualified than Christa McAuliffe ( or Corrigan as I knew her - I had her as a student teacher in the 6th grade while she was still in college ). He was a high school Physics teacher with a degree in Physics. He would have been a much better candidate . However, due to PC and "getting the children excited" , they sent a female elementary school teacher up instead. I bet this guy was thanking PC afterwards !!