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In article <1993Jan2.045416.15301@ringer.cs.utsa.edu> sbooth@lonestar.utsa.edu (Simon E. Booth) writes:

>Concerning public opinion about the space program, IHMO those opinions can
>and are greatly influenced by the media's depiction of space exploration.
>Next time watch news coverage of a shuttle flight.  Invariably some reference
>is made to the cost of that particular mission, plus any important technical
>information is either watered down or omitted.

>I've had people tell me that the media doesn't cover the space program very
>much because people aren't interested.

>But here's somethin to think about: did people lose interest and the media
>reduced it's coverage in response, or did the media cut back coverage and then
>convince people that they weren't interested in it?

How much interest SHOULD there be in any particular shuttle launch?  If we
had an adequate space program, there should be not much more interest than
in a trip of an ocean liner.  As the saying goes, "When man bites dog,
that's news."  

Nor should anyone expect every observation made by a space probe to be
spectacular.  Any research program will have experiments or observations
made which are valueless; if we knew what we would find, it would not be
necessary to look for it, unless we can directly exploit it.

The first landing on the moon was quite properly a big media event, but
it is not at all surprising that the later ones were less so.  
-- 
Herman Rubin, Dept. of Statistics, Purdue Univ., West Lafayette IN47907-1399
Phone: (317)494-6054
hrubin@snap.stat.purdue.edu (Internet, bitnet)  
{purdue,pur-ee}!snap.stat!hrubin(UUCP)