posted 02-05-2005 11:35 AM            

But as Borman said, "Then there was Cornell."

At Cornell, Borman and his wife Susan were guests of Carl Sagan. Sagan invited them to his house for the evening so that they could meet some of the students from the Students for a Democratic Society. Sagan explained that he was there faculty advisor.

As Borman explains it, they spent the evening sitting on the floor of Sagan's living room where Sagan orchestrated an attack by egging the students on when they asked questions such as, "Col. Borman, were you aware that on such and such a date American troops massacred hundreds of helpless Vietnamese woman and children. Just what is your opinion of this heinous atrocity? Surely you must have some thoughts on the subject!"

I always wondered why Sagan (a very well loved man) set Borman and his wife up like that. The best answer I have been able to come up with is Sagan saw Borman as a trespasser. Sagan made no secret of the fact that as a university professor he saw himself as superior to any military officer.

I think Sagan felt that NASA should have placed him in command of Apollo 8. The two other crewmen could have been test pilots and they could have pushed all the right buttons leaving Sagan free to make the Christmas eve broadcast from lunar orbit.

posted 02-05-2005 01:15 PM            

The grandkids would then ask, "Gee grand paw, what did he have to say about the flight?"

"Well nothing. You see we didn't really give him the chance to talk about the moon."

"What?! Why not grand paw?"

posted 02-06-2005 03:47 AM               

Carson seemed to always enjoy having him on the show. Sagan may not have promoted human spaceflight but he did promote space exploration.

posted 02-07-2005 05:09 PM               

Politics isn't what he'll be remembered for. "The Dragons of Eden," "Broca's Brain," "Pale Blue Dot," "Other Worlds," and "Comet" are all wonderful books. But his TV series "Cosmos" (and the accompanying book) was a culture changing event.

posted 02-10-2005 12:13 PM               

I suggest reading "Radical Chic & Mau-Mauing The Flak-Catchers" by Tom Wolfe. It shows how people like Sagan were caught up in the "youth culture" even though they were past it. As a hippie back then (a wise-guy hippie, not an "oh, wow!" type) I found people like Sagan pathetic when they tried to be with it.

posted 02-10-2005 05:51 PM               

My field and passion is physics. Historically, the study of physics in the 20th century went through a tortuous period of introspection. This was of course during the second World War and in particular after the Manhattan Project. The likes of Teller embraced the further use of physics in the field of weapons. Feynman, Oppenheimer and many others wanted no more to do with it. There is no room here to discuss in detail, but this set of circumstances did lead to a great distrust of the industrial military machine by many scientists.

Sagan was of the new generation of scientists beating a new philisophical, even moral path for intellectual pursuit. As such, Borman as well as most of the early astronauts being military, was part of that antagonism. I was not in the USA in the sixties so I can not be an authority on the emotions of the time. However, Sagan's action has to seen in a broader perspective. Having great respect for both men means I cannot take sides. I don't agree with the method Sagan used, but his future self would in all likely hood, have been somewhat apologetic to Borman. We all learn from our past actions (hopefully). Sagan was a great man himself, and deserves the same respect as Borman.