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Written by Derek Kessler on
Thursday, 01 May 2008
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 There’s an organization called GovernmentAttic.org that makes it its business to file Freedom of Information Act requests to see what it can get from the United States federal government’s files. Their site is filled with loads of obscure data that is available to the public, but the government doesn’t publish unless you ask about it. Most FOIA requests are for things that the government was secretive about in the past, but GovernmentAttic recently filed a request that was an odd one: the contents of the International Space Station’s media library. As you can imagine, a space station is going to have loads of science fiction, and there’s plenty, from Star Wars to the Matrix to Lost. But there’s something missing: Star Trek.
Of the hundreds of hours of available television and movies, there’s not a single byte of Star Trek among them. ISS residents can watch all six Star Wars movies with bonus discs, all the Matrixes (including The Animatrix), all the X-Men, Stargate, The Right Stuff (of course), Men in Black, and the Lord of the Rings trilogy, along with lighter fair like Caddyshack, The Princess Bride, Blazing Saddles, and Wedding Crashers.
But no Star Trek. So what gives? Countless astronomers, aerospace engineers, and astronauts have all laid claim to Star Trek being a major influence on their lives. And with ten motion pictures and five television series totaling over 700 hours of material, there’s certainly no shortage of Star Trek for the astronauts to potentially choose from.
So why’s there no Star Trek on the ISS?
A couple of theories to start us off:
- NASA Chief Administrator Mike Griffin doesn’t like the poor grammar of “To Boldly Go.”
- Star Trek V: The Final Frontier crashed the computer when they tried to play it.
- "Threshold" made an astronaut have an in-orbit aneurysm.
- With over 700 hours of Star Trek to watch, nothing got done.
- Station commanders started saying, “Make it so.” All. The. Time.
- They loaded a visiting space shuttle with ‘tribbles’ made from dust and duct tape.
- Russian cosmonauts just didn’t get what all the yelling of KHAAAAAN was about.
- When automated Progress cargo ships came near, they refused docking until their hails were answered.
- Mission Control in Houston got tired of telling them that headquarters was not in San Francisco.
- They couldn’t decided who was better, Kirk or Picard.
Theories, people?
In the meantime, we can ask NASA ourselves why we’re depriving our astronauts of their childhood inspiration. NASA.gov has an online question submission form, as well as the old fashioned avenues available.
Ask NASA
Public Communications Office
NASA Headquarters
Suite 5K39
Washington, DC 20546-0001
(202) 358-0001 (Office)
(202) 358-3469 (Fax)
[via: i09.com]
View: Freedom of Information Act Request: ISS Media Library Contents [PDF]
Discuss: TrekUnited Forum
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