okay go ahead
 	
 	
 		well uh a friend of mine actually works for McDonald Douglas in the uh in the space station program so i get to find out a lot of information about what's going on there and it sure sounds like
 	
 	
 		oh
 		sure
 	
 	
 		that's going to be a really viable program if it continues to be funded at current levels
 	
 	
 		uh-huh
 	
 	
 		um they're they're going to be doing a lot of interesting things um i think one of the the big things that he's involved with is the micro gravity payloads
 		and
 		that has a direct impact on a lot of things that we really can't do down here on earth including um some new pharmaceutical techniques
 	
 	
 		oh you're kidding yeah
 	
 	
 		so you know there's there's a a big opportunity for us to explore uh what sorts of things you can do in a zero gravity environment
 	
 	
 		hm
 		um-hum sure
 	
 	
 		so i suspect that we'll see a lot of gains from that
 	
 	
 		well that's good
 		because sometimes i wonder you know being a uh lay person out there of not uh knowing exactly exactly what's going on in space
 		whether you know they're going ahead and doing things and whether or not we're spending too much money on the programs and not spending enough money on the earth that we have here being you know
 		to me the all this uh space exploration that we've done thus far has told us that there's no other place like earth
 		that uh we can't live on Mars we can't live here we can't live there i mean this is the the place that we have to live i mean there's uh no other resource for us to to look at other than here so it's kind of like
 		to me i would like to see a lot more money being put toward taking care of the environment that we have here
 		and not so much emphasis put on what's going out in space and what it you know not that i want everything to halt and
 		let's forget about the space program or whatever because we're always curious and we always need to know more things but um
 		it to me it's kind of like let's try and clean up the air that we have here let's try to take care of the lakes that are getting polluted and the other things that are going on here
 		mainly because uh the space program has taught us that there is no other place for  us i mean this is it i mean if we would've
 		uh if we would have went into space and found Mars a livable planet uh planet we probably would have inhabited it and uh
 		you know who would have cared about earth it would have been another planet to kind of take over and uh continue on so you know and that
 		when i look at the space program itself i think of it you know as being in terms of it's it's interesting to learn but it's also
 		it's it brings down the fact that this earth is it it's it for us you know what i mean
 	
 	
 		right
 	
 	
 		um unless technology makes the decision that we all are going to live in space or whatever but
 		i would love to um go into the space shuttle some day and uh just see um
 		you know the earth and the different planets and things like that i i think it would be very interesting to do but whether it'd be feasible to do i don't know
 	
 	
 		well um
 		and as far as the practical aspects go i suspect that the space station may actually be a good compromise between you know deep splace i'm sorry deep space exploration and uh and not doing anything because
 	
 	
 		um-hum
 		um-hum
 		sure
 	
 	
 		we have the opportunity to off load some things to the space station
 	
 	
 		exactly um-hum
 	
 	
 		and uh you know perhaps we can find better techniques for doing things that uh we'd normally do down here that are damaging to the environment
 	
 	
 		um-hum
 		exactly yeah that's true
 		you know and uh i think of uh i i'm sure you probably have heard of the Genesis program that's going on currently out in the Arizona desert uh
 	
 	
 		uh-huh
 	
 	
 		there's uh you know they're trying to look at how things effect everything in trying to create
 		you know an environment where they have an ocean and they have the lakes and then they have the desert part of it and then they have an area that's more um you know full of uh vegetation tropicals that kind of thing to kind of uh
 		look at things and say you know the environment wise this is where we're living but what what effects it and how can we improve it and things like that and i i think in space um
 		i don't know how many people could live up in space uh for any length of time i mean i
 		just the way that we're affected by when it's cloudy out and it's cloudy for days and we don't see the sun
 		and the people their moods are extreme you know it's like God if i don't get to see the sun i'm gonna be in this bad mood all this entire time i mean this is how i see people reacting you know when is the sun gonna come out
 	
 	
 		right
 	
 	
 		so i wonder how you know somebody living up in space is going to be able to tolerate never seeing the sun
 		you know in the aspect that we see it uh and never seeing uh you know light bright days you know and uh breathing
 	
 	
 		right