What happened to Major Tom?

[erisi236]

You know the song Space Oddity by David Bowie. :)


Ground Control to Major Tom
Ground Control to Major Tom
Take your protein pills
and put your helmet on

Ground Control to Major Tom
Commencing countdown,
engines on
Check ignition
and may God's love be with you

This is Ground Control
to Major Tom
You've really made the grade
And the papers want to know whose shirts you wear
Now it's time to leave the capsule
if you dare

This is Major Tom to Ground Control
I'm stepping through the door
And I'm floating
in a most peculiar way
And the stars look very different today

For here
Am I sitting in a tin can
Far above the world
Planet Earth is blue
And there's nothing I can do

Though I'm past
one hundred thousand miles
I'm feeling very still
And I think my spaceship knows which way to go
Tell my wife I love her very much
she knows

Ground Control to Major Tom
Your circuit's dead,
there's something wrong
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you....

Here am I floating
round my tin can
Far above the Moon
Planet Earth is blue
And there's nothing I can do.

So did Major Tom fall out of the ship and float away? Did he take something other then a "protein pill"? Was it all a dream? Or was it all a hoax? :D

[Rob1ooo1oo]

Major Tom probably just overdosed on protein pills

[weatherc]

It always sounded to me like he crashed and burned on reentry to the atmosphere.

[Argos]

He must have embarked on a lisergic trip and stepped out from the ship to become another earth satellite.

[Eroica]

Wasn't there some American astronaut in the early days of manned spaceflight (the Mercury program?) who started to trip out during a low-earth orbit flight and failed to respond to ground control for a while? :think:

[01101001]

I just figure his partner grabbed the tether and pulled him in.

Nobody spacewalks from a one-person craft.

[Moose]

Wasn't there some American astronaut in the early days of manned spaceflight (the Mercury program?) who started to trip out during a low-earth orbit flight and failed to respond to ground control for a while? :think:

Closest thing I can think of was Gemini 4, where McDivitt (as CapCom) spent a few minutes trying to get Ed White's attention to tell him to end the spacewalk while they still had usable light.

Some claim that Ed White ignored the instruction. White apparently says they didn't hear the instruction to come back in until the Gemini crew called down to Houston. Of the memoirs I've been slowly collecting, I've seen a few opinions either way. Most astronauts say they don't really know either way, but tend to believe White. As nobody got hurt and there was no harm done (except possibly to Chris Kraft's blood pressure at the time, apparently he was furious), I have no reason to disbelieve White.

[SirThoreth]

I always thought it was a metaphor for Bowie's drug use...

[MG1962A]

Heres the answer

Ashes To Ashes - David Bowie

Do you remember a guy thats been
In such an early song
Ive heard a rumour from ground control
Oh no, dont say its true

They got a message from the action man
Im happy, hope youre happy too
Ive loved all Ive needed love
Sordid details following

The shrieking of nothing is killing
Just pictures of jap girls in synthesis and i
Aint got no money and I aint got no hair
But Im hoping to kick but the planet its glowing

Ashes to ashes, funk to funky
We know major toms a junkie
Strung out in heavens high
Hitting an all-time low

Time and again I tell myself
Ill stay clean tonight
But the little green wheels are following me
Oh no, not again
Im stuck with a valuable friend
Im happy, hope youre happy too
One flash of light but no smoking pistol

I never done good things
I never done bad things
I never did anything out of the blue, woh-o-oh
Want an axe to break the ice
Wanna come down right now

Ashes to ashes, funk to funky
We know major toms a junkie
Strung out in heavens high
Hitting an all-time low

My mother said to get things done
Youd better not mess with major tom
My mother said to get things done
Youd better not mess with major tom
My mother said to get things done
Youd better not mess with major tom
My mother said to get things done
Youd better not mess with major tom


And a peice of triva. The little woman in the film clip is David's mum :)

[AGN Fuel]

Some claim that Ed White ignored the instruction. White apparently says they didn't hear the instruction to come back in until the Gemini crew called down to Houston. Of the memoirs I've been slowly collecting, I've seen a few opinions either way. Most astronauts say they don't really know either way, but tend to believe White.

I've never seen the senate transcripts of the Apollo 1 hearings, but in the HBO series, "From the Earth to the Moon' they quote Borman as having categorically denied that White would disobey an order.

I must try and find a copy of that transcript - how close was that protrayal to the reality, I wonder?

[Count Zero]

IIRC the Gemini suit comms were rigged so that they could either receive voice from each other or from the ground. The switch was in the cockpit. For most of Ed's EVA, Jim had the switch set so they could talk (and the ground listened in). Mind you, since McDivitt spent a lot of time narrating the action to the ground, Mission Control couldn't tell which position the switch was in. They kept trying to tell the crew to wrap it up, and the astronauts just kept talking. To some it sounded like Ed & Jim were ignoring instructions, but it wasn't until McDivitt threw the switch and asked, "Do you have any messages for us?" that Capcom was able to tell them, "Get back in!"

[Donnie B.]

I have it on good authority that Major Tom performed a rendezvous with Elton John's Rocket Man, and they had a cathartic pity party in microgravity.

It's tragic what a few loose tears can do, floating around in a spacecraft.

[Maksutov]

You know the song Space Oddity by David Bowie. :)



So did Major Tom fall out of the ship and float away? Did he take something other then a "protein pill"? Was it all a dream? Or was it all a hoax? :DAs with all those who are gravitationally-challenged, He Fell to Earth (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074851/).

[erisi236]

I have it on good authority that Major Tom performed a rendezvous with Elton John's Rocket Man, and they had a cathartic pity party in microgravity.

Some people say that the Rocketman IS Major Tom, and that it was a sort of joke between the two artists :)

[Gillianren]

Some people say that the Rocketman IS Major Tom, and that it was a sort of joke between the two artists :)

Well, sort of. David Bowie was apparently quite put out by the whole thing until Angela, his first wife, told him that imitation was the sincerest form of flattery. She says that she did not repeat that when David started composing on a piano instead of a guitar. (Elton John apparently composes on a piano.)

[phunk]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZQJbzw71BTg

Watch the first minute or two :)

[erisi236]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZQJbzw71BTg

Watch the first minute or two :)

ok, that is just funny/amazing on so many levels :D

[Moose]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZQJbzw71BTg

Watch the first minute or two :)

Oh dear, that's sooooo campy. *lol*

[publiusr]

What happened to Major Tom?

Therby hangs a tale.

He died screaming something about winding up like John Denver and cursing SS2.

[PhantomWolf]

I felt like beating my head on the wall after reading several people's claim that Space Oddity was about Apollo 13.

[novaderrik]

that's my favorite Venture Brothers episode- and i love them all.
since i first saw that episode, it's what i think of when i hear the song..
and, for some reason, everytime i think of pirates, i think of teddy bear walkie talkies, too..
and let's not even get into what i'm reminded of when i hear someone beg someone else for a cigarette..

[Van Rijn]

Oh dear, that's sooooo campy. *lol*

It's all like that. It's full of references to '50s-'70s comics, books, songs, TV and other bits. There was a parody of the Fantastic four (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Characters_from_The_Venture_Bros.#The_Impossibles) , with Sally Impossible (who can make her skin invisible), Cody (bursts into flame and runs around screaming in pain when exposed to any oxygen) and Ned (mentally handicapped and sometimes called "The Callus"). I liked the first season more than the second, but there are a lot of funny bits still.

[Van Rijn]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZQJbzw71BTg

Watch the first minute or two :)

You beat me to that. Of course, that isn't the last we hear of Major Tom.:)

[novaderrik]

i think it was either the episode right beforethat or right after that when they had another Bowie reference- you know, the episode that took place at Brisbyland.
and how about the Scooby Doo parody last weekend.. classic.