From: utzoo!decvax!cca!POURNE@MIT-MC@sri-unix
Newsgroups: net.space
Title: l-5
Article-I.D.: sri-unix.3225
Posted: Sat Sep 11 01:10:13 1982
Received: Sun Sep 12 02:50:02 1982

From: Jerry E. Pournelle 
The gentleman who declined to renew his membership is welcome to
his opinion.  Others have different views.  Ones with different
views on the L-5 Board include Heinlein, Kantrowitz, and a
number of aerospace managers like Gordon Woodcock of Boeing.
Some with different views who are members include astronauts and
company presidents (Fred Haise of apollo 13 was guest of honor
at the L-5 convention last spring; Hans Mark of Nasa was keynote
speaker).


Re: SSI of Houston and "rational approaches."  I am not certain
I understand what engineering contribution launching a
miniuteman upper stage makes as opposed to trying to develop a
cheap liquid rocket.  Certainly using a minuteman upper stage is
more rational if all you want to do is get your rocket off the
pad and have it splash in the Gulf of Mexico instead of scaring
the alligator.
	Gary Hudson who did the Percheron was at the World SF
convention recently and we had a long discussion about the "new"
and the old SSI approaches.  It may be the new approach is "more
rational" as said in the recent space digest, but it is not
utterly obvious.