Voyager: A Flight Into the Future
How disillusioning to have an established American hero like Chuck Yeager turn out to have fleet of clay!
His ill-timed comment that the Voyager flight was “meaningless” and the equivalent of crossing the country in a car with a big fuel tank was voiced at a time when he had just completed a truly meaningless “record” flight from Edwards Air Force Base to Kittyhawk.
His comments belittled Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager at a time when any moment might have been their last. It betrays a great deal about Chuck’s flawed character. It betrays petty jealousy and sour grapes, envy and a total lack of tact, which has surprised and disappointed a host of Chuck’s erstwhile fans.
The Voyager twosome richly deserve all the kudos they will receive.
WALKER A. TOMPKINS
Santa Barbara