🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <b-p254n@rpi.edu> strider@clotho.acm.rpi.edu (Greg Moore) writes:
>>>on rendezvous and repair.  So, now we have to get 3 objects in close
>>>proximity to each other...
>>Last time I flew back into DFW, I saw more than three planes on
>>the ground, in close proximity to one another.  I saw people and
>>baggage being transferred between flights.   Looks do-able.
>>
>	Umm, so?  Tell me, did you see 3 aircraft landing at the same
>time, or flying in formation?  Did you see baggage transferred between
>them while in flight?  I'm not talking about on the ground, I'm talking
>about in space...

Why do you assume that "in the air" is a better analogy for "in space"
than "on the ground" is?  Flying aircraft in close proximity is vastly
harder than doing the same for spacecraft, because of the complex and
unpredictable behavior of the atmosphere.  In-orbit operations resemble
on-ground operations more than in-flight operations:  the environment
is simple and predictable and you can take your time.
-- 
"God willing... we shall return."       | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
       -Gene Cernan, the Moon, Dec 1972 |  henry@zoo.toronto.edu  utzoo!henry