THE International Space Station now has a full-time crew, much to the delight
and relief of NASA officials, who must surely have wondered if they鈥檇 ever see
the day. A huge smile adorned every NASA official鈥檚 face as pictures of the
three astronauts were beamed back to Earth.
But at least one smile quickly faded after the first transmission from the
crew. Commander William Shepherd asked permission to refer to the space station
by the call sign 鈥淎lpha鈥� in all radio contact with the ground. That may seem
like an innocuous request, but NASA chief Dan Goldin was less than pleased.
Alpha was one of the names NASA used for its space station before the Russians
joined the project. When they did, NASA felt a name was needed that reminded the
international partners (such as the European Space Agency, the Japanese and the
Canadians) that this wasn鈥檛 just a US-Russian programme. If 鈥淚nternational Space
Station鈥� didn鈥檛 trip off the tongue, at least it was descriptive.
So Shepherd鈥檚 request definitely got up Goldin鈥檚 nose. Not wanting to spoil
the euphoria of the moment, Goldin said 鈥淥K鈥� to Alpha for the first crew, which
will man the station until February. After that, who knows. But all official
statements from NASA about the status of the space station still refer to it as
the International Space Station. A rose by any other name would smell as sweet . . .
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YOU could say the American Green Party was born this November. It should have
been a joyous event for those who feel that issues involving the environment,
worker safety, conservation and public health have been ignored by Democrats and
Republicans alike. But for many of these people, the blessed event was marred by
the fact that the baby was downright ugly.
Ralph Nader, Green Party standard-bearer, had always eschewed the insider鈥檚
role, preferring to attack from the wings to establish safer cars, cleaner air
and water, and other hallmarks of the worldwide Green movement. This was the
first time he had mounted a serious national political campaign, with himself as
would-be President. The kids who demonstrated in Seattle and Washington DC
against 鈥済lobalisation鈥� voted for him, even though the established environmental
groups, grumblingly but with political pragmatism in mind, voted for Al Gore.
And Nader got the votes of a few diehard liberals whose values were laid down at
Woodstock and the Nixon impeachment hearings.
But in the end the Green movement鈥檚 big debut turned sour. With only 3 per
cent of the vote, the party failed to make a big enough impact to be taken
seriously, or even qualify for 鈥渇ederal matching funds鈥� for a campaign in 2004
(which requires the candidate to get 5 per cent of the vote).
All Nader did was win votes that might otherwise have gone to Gore, resulting
in last week鈥檚 historic cliffhanger. Now the mainstream environmental groups,
labour, and the public health community鈥攇roups that once saw Nader as a
valuable 鈥渓oyal opponent鈥濃�攙iew him as an ageing spoiler whose campaign did
not launch a movement but instead pulled the plug on the only seaworthy ship to
the left of political centre in the country. Nader may be right to say that a
conservative Bush administration would galvanise the environmental movement. But
the movement鈥檚 leaders aren鈥檛 likely now to ask him to become a godfather to the
growing Green baby.