NLPC President Peter Flaherty today questioned NASA’s motivation for allowing 77 year-old John Glenn to serve on the crew of the Space Shuttle this week.
“NASA has asserted that putting John Glenn in space this week would assist research on the effects on space travel by the elderly. This claim is becoming increasingly suspect with the cancellation of Glenn’s participation in the melotonin experiment. It was this very experiment that Glenn cited as one of the reasons for his mission.”
“The only hypothesis that may be proven by Glenn’s flight is that NASA is not immune from political pressure. Glenn conducted a furious lobbying campaign of NASA administrators. His motivation is obvious, to rehabilitate his tarnished U.S. Senate career now that he is leaving”
“NASA should disclose what special accommodations are being made for Glenn and how much they are costing the taxpayer. NASA has already had one bad very bad experience with the flight of a civilian for publicity purposes.”
“I question Glenn’s fitness for flight. Following his astronaut days, Glenn had to withdraw from a U.S. Senate primary in 1964 because he fell down in a bath tub. The first spacecraft in which Glenn flew was a far cry from the Discovery. It had a single window and only 36 toggle switches. Glenn did not pilot the craft as much as he rode it.”
NLPC promotes openness and accountability in government through research,
education and legal action. The organization was founded in 1991 as a reaction
to the Senate Keating Five report whitewashing the Five. In 1993, NLPC
successfully sued to open the meetings and records of Hillary Rodham Clinton’s
health care task force.