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Paco2004 Posted 21 years ago
Grammar

Walter M. Schirra Jr

0 I found an article about ex-astronaut Schirra in a page from CNN. 02br
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0101b00Walter M. Schirra Jr.02b02br
00Schirra in his Mercury pressure suit with model of Mercury spacecraft behind him. The jocular Schirra logged more time in space than any of the other Mercury seven -- 295 hours -- aboard Mercury 8, Gemini 6 and Apollo 7. He left NASA and the Navy in 1969 when there were no new missions coming his way. "I didn't want to be a potted palm," he says. He worked at an oil and gas company before forming his own environmental company, which he then sold, and did stints as an executive at Johns-Manville and Kimberly-Clark. 02br
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00Now retired, the 75-year-old Schirra has written two books -- "Schirra's Space" and "From Wildcats to Tomcats" (the latter about naval aviation) -- and still makes speeches and public appearances. He was at Knott's Berry Farm near Los Angeles recently for the inauguration of a ride called "The Scream Machine." He lives in Rancho Santa Fe, California, and has a second home on Kauai, Hawaii. His hobbies including fishing, boating and golf. 02br
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00Never at a loss for one-liners, Schirra has two regarding Glenn's return to space: "One, I'm not that old. Two, I don't need the flight time." Would he go back into space himself? "Not unless I could fly it," he says. "I'm not interested in sitting in back." 02br
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00What I feel somehow difficult to get is the last paragraph. As for the first sentence, I take it as "Being never at a loss for one-liners (=jokes), Schirra has two (one-liners) regarding Glenn's return to space". Am I right? What does mean "Not unless I could fly it"? Is it an ellipsis of "He would not go into the space himself unless I could fly it"? Can we use an "unless"-clause in a second type of conditional? What does this "it" stand for? Is it "return to space"? 02br
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00paco 0-
  

Top answer

" 02br 02br 00"It" stands for "space", not "return to space". He would only go into space (fly space) if he could operate the spacecraft. He would not agree to be just a traveller.

— Miche

  • " 02br 02br 00"It" stands for "space", not "return to space".
  • He would only go into space (fly space) if he could operate the spacecraft.
  • He would not agree to be just a traveller.
  • 0-
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8 Answers
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0 Hi, Paco, 02br
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00I agree with your interpretation but there's a small correction: "He would not go into space himself unlsess 01b00he02b00 could fly it." 02br
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00"It" stands for "space", not "return to space". He would only go into space (fly space) if he could operate the spacecraft. He would not agree to be just a travel
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0 Hi guys, 02br
00I would say that 'it' refers to the spacecraft that would be used in a return to space. A spacecraft is not mentioned in the paragraph, but it is implicit. 02br
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00Best wishes, 02br
00Clive 0-
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0 Hello Mich and Clive 02br
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00Thanks for the replies. 02br
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00"Not unless 01b00he02b00 could fly it" sounds too reasonable to be a joke. I wonder if a [url="05000"]CNN article[/url] would pick up such a too normal saying. I don't think it is a typo. 02br
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00Clive's interpretation about "it"
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0 Paco, 02br
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00I think Miche was correcting your comment: 02br
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00Is it an ellipsis of "He would not go into the space himself unless I could fly it"? 12blockquote
12br
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00not the original paragraph, which contained 02br
01blockquote
00"Not unless I could fly it," he
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0Yes, Paco, I was correcting your sentence, not the original one. 050010id1
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0 Hello Miche and CJ 02br
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00I understand I was completely wrong. 01blockquote
00Would he go back into space himself? "Not unless I could fly it," he says. "I'm not interested in sitting in back."12blockquote
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00My problem was I mistook "he" as a pronoun to refer to Glenn. This "he" refers to Schirra. 02br
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0 Or: 02br
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00Reporter:"Would you go back into space yourself?" 02br
00Schirra: "I wouldn't do so unless I were allowed to drive the spacecraft myself, because I don't like to sit in the back seat". 02br
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00I suppose the 'back seat' part is another little joke (cf. 'take a back seat'). 02br
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00MrP 0-
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0 Thanks MrP. I got the sense of 'take a back seat'. 02br
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00paco 0-
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