October 5, 2012
Today is the 50th anniversary anniversary of the release of the first James Bond movie, Dr. No, so it is only appropriate that scheme worthy of a Bond villain would pop up on the internet today.
(Also, as a side note, the theme song for the upcoming "Skyfall" was released today, and British singer Adele has done a great job calling back to the soulful, brassy themes of Shirley Bassey...this concludes your James Bond nerd interlude.)
Over at the car (and space shuttle) obsessed, Jalopnik, Jason Torchinsky has outlined what it would take for someone to attempt to steal the space shuttle Endeavour from the streets of Los Angeles today.
In short, the plan involves the Swiss deciding to apply for the vacant position in the axis of evil, crashing a Swissair jet, 20 heavy lift helicopters, buying a salvaged Russian space shuttle, a team of highly trained aerial commandos a massive submarine and a private island.
The Swiss would then use the shuttle to take over the international space station because...well because they could. From the article:
My guess is they'll try and take over the ISS and turn it into an orbiting Neutrality Base. Soon the uninterested Eye of the Swiss will always be circling overhead, brutally ignoring us as the foundations for an even more unconquerable Switzerland are laid.
Of course I can think of someone else with a motive to take the space shuttle: Me.*
See, like many youngsters I grew up dreaming of being an astronaut. But then I grew beyond NASA's height maximum. My own private space shuttle would give me the chance to go into space.
Unfortunately, I don't have wealth or the access to any of the things Torchinsky outlines in his plan.
However, I wonder if the Russians would take the 83 cents I just found on my desk for the shuttle?
I'll have to get back to that later though, right now some NASA security folks are at the front desk and it seems they want to talk to me.
- I in no way condone the actual theft of space shuttles or any other government property, including but not limited to, staplers.*
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