First off, I think John Varley is a genius. He has the same talent that Robert A. Heinlein had; the ability to understand how humans and technology go together.

I'll gush more on him later.

Anyways, I recently discovered his official Web page, and he has a good telling of his tripping over to watch the launch of the Aura satellite, containing this gem:

Sure enough, at T-3 the grandstand goes dark. We look up, and can see thousands of stars and the Milky Way. Somebody at Mission Control has a sense of theater!....

I'd like to see a launch one of these days, if the shuttle ever flies again, I'd like to take the daughter-creature to see it. Mind you, if NASA keeps going the way they are, she'll be taking me. Maybe we can go watch SpaceshipOne....

10:19:57 PM     Discuss: []