Word: piloting
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...anyone has a right to talk of the station as a long journey, it's space station commander Jim Shepherd, or "Shep" as he is known to all, including wife Beth and Russian ground controllers (who pronounce it "Ship"). Shepherd, 51, joined the U.S. Navy to become a pilot, then the only route to commanding a space mission. Poor eyesight ended that dream, so he became a frogman and used that as a stepping-stone to the Astronaut Corps, but as a mission specialist, not a commander - someone qualified to ride the space shuttle...
...there have been repeated questions about his ability to command. American shuttle flights are of short duration, and Shepherd had just about two weeks' experience in orbit, compared to cosmonauts who spend months in space. Krikalev, for one, has spent more than year in space. The first cosmonaut pilot assigned to the crew and charged with the task of flying the Soyuz capsule refused to serve with Shepherd, whom he considered a rookie. Shepherd's authority was further undermined by Russian ground controllers, who will call the shots until the U.S.-built laboratory module is in place next year...
...also a pilot, and calls flying "liberating." But he says his political goals share those ideals...
Panic does not seize the day, though--not least because the pilot, an expert, is standing coolly on the ground, dual-levered radio transmitter in hand, 500 ft. below the aerobatics. Meet George Messetler, 80, the diminutive, elegant "grandfather" of the Rockland County Radio Control Flyers. Each week Messetler and other like-minded aviators in his 130-member model-plane flying club meet on a field and fly mini-airplanes they have constructed. They console one another when they crash. They grill burgers, give one another unsolicited aviation advice, show off for their wives and, if the wind is right...
Charlize Theron is drunk as a skunk and strapping on a parachute. "Too much altitude, ma'am!" says the pilot. "You'll surely die!" Theron, lovely in a black Versace gown and hot pink Manolo Blahnik mules, cares not one bit. She secures her parachute as she steps onto the wing, gives the pilot the finger and takes the plunge...