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The Mystery Of The Space Shuttle In That Simpsons Episode Where Homer Went To Space. Remember the Simpsons episode where Homer was sent into orbit?

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It had Buzz Aldrin and James Taylor as guests, and gave the world the Overlord Meme. The episode was titled Deep Space Homer, and I have some serious questions and theories about the spacecraft featured in the episode, a strange spaceplane called the Corvair spacecraft. The episode aired on February 2. NASA project to re- ignite interest in the space program by sending an “average American” into space. Luckily for the show, that average American selected was Homer Simpson, and he was rocketed into orbit with real- life astronaut Buzz Aldrin and real- fiction astronaut Race Banyon.

What interests me here, though, is the spacecraft that took Homer into space. When the episode aired in 1. NASA was still launching the Space Shuttle orbiters into space on a fairly regular basis. These spacecraft were very well known to Americans, and visually they had a distinctive look that most American television viewers would recognize and understand instantly.

You’d think representing the Space Shuttle as it was known to most people would be the way to go for the episode. For some reason, that’s not what happened.

The spacecraft they used was called the Corvair spacecraft—the name is interesting to me as a car geek because, of course, it refers to Chevrolet’s infamous air- cooled, rear- engined compact car, which Ralph Nader famously claimed was “unsafe at any speed.” The name is also likely a play on Convair, the aircraft company. The Corvair was clearly a spaceplane like the real Space Shuttle orbiters, but that’s where the similarity ended. It was far smaller- seeming than an actual shuttle orbiter, about 1/3 the length, and was launched in a different configuration as well. Instead of being mounted to the side of the large central fuel tank and flanked by solid rocket boosters like the shuttle NASA actually used, the Corvair was mounted atop a large rocket with four strap- on boosters. It looked dramatically different than the space shuttles we knew, and I haven’t found any good justification of why the Simpsons artists and producers decided they should come up with a new spacecraft design. I’m not the only one to have wondered this, of course, but from what I’ve seen no one seems to really know why this decision was made. More interestingly, it doesn’t seem like a whole new spacecraft was just invented for the show; I’m pretty sure the Corvair was based on an existing spacecraft design of the time, the European Space Agency’s Hermes spaceplane.

There’s a number of small . Images of Hermes were pretty well known in the late . I remember encountering pictures of it in, I think, a National Geographic? Either that or one of those copies of Oui I used to find in the woods. The Corvair orbiter design is a dead ringer for the Hermes, right down to the turned- up wingtips and large conical rear section. Even the proposed interior layout of the Hermes seems to match what we see in the episode, though, to be fair, I guess it could also just be a pretty generic cartoon spaceship interior.

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There’s other contemporary spacecraft designs that could have influenced this as well—Japan’s space agency had the HOPE- X, there was another ESA project called Horus, and the Soviets had some similar- looking craft as part of their Spiral project, but none are quite as close as the Hermes is to the Corvair. Even if I’m almost positive the Corvair Spacecraft was based on the Hermes, that still doesn’t answer why. The. Simpsons decided to show Homer’s first trip to space as taking place in an aborted European spaceplane instead of the Space Shuttles that were so near and dear to American hearts. I don’t think it has anything to do with some inability to convincingly render a regular American Shuttle orbiter—Shuttles as we know them have shown up on The Simpsons a few times since the episode aired, and they were immediately recognizable: In fact, in a recent update to the Simpsons mobile game Tapped Out, they have both the Hermes- like Corvair on the launch pad and a conventional- looking NASA Space Shuttle together: So, I don’t think there were any technical animation- related reasons why the look of the Shuttle was so different. I think maybe the most reasonable answer is that, out of respect to NASA, the Simpsons art directors decided to make something visually different from the actual Space Shuttle, so they could give it a name like Corvair and have it fail in various ways without tarnishing the actual reputation of NASA. Perhaps NASA insisted that it look different?

I’ve reached out to NASA to find out, and am attempting to reach out to someone who worked on the Simpsons during this period. If I find out anything definitive, I’ll update, because you have a right to know the truth. As of right now, this is still just a great Simpsonian mystery: the secret endorsement of a little- known European spacecraft design over America’s own Space Shuttles. I’ll keep searching for the truth. UPDATE: Well, hot damn.

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David Mirkin, the writer of Deep Space Homer (and he created Get A Life, the wonderfully underrated Chris Elliot show) actually tweeted the answer I’ve been desperate to know for over two decades!. Thanks, Mr. Mirkin! I liked your shuttle design, too, even if I’m still pretty sure you cribbed it from the Hermes.

Boundary Delimitation —Boundary Delimitation. Boundary Delimitation as PDF/printable document Boundary Delimitation Index. Boundary Delimitation Quiz. The Boundary Delimitation topic area discusses the administrative and cost implications of delimiting electoral districts for representation purposes and considers the social and political context in which delimitation takes place. It also covers the boundary setting process associated with voting areas (also called polling areas or election precincts) needed for the purposes of assigning voters to polling places. These boundaries need to be adjusted periodically due to spatial demographic shifts over time and thus remain relevant to even the most established democracies. Overview of Boundary Delimitation.

The term . However, it can also be used to denote the process of drawing voting areas (also called polling areas, districts or election precincts) for the purposes of assigning voters to polling places. The term has been employed to describe the process of demarcating administrative boundaries such as state/province, county or municipality lines as well. This section focuses only on the delimitation of electoral districts and voting areas. Furthermore, because the delimitation of electoral districts is far more complicated and much more controversial than the delimitation of voting areas, the vast majority of this topic area will be devoted to the delimitation of electoral district boundaries. Delimiting Electoral Districts.

The periodic delimitation of electoral boundaries, or redistricting or redistribution, is necessary in any representative system where single- member districts or uniformly small multimember districts are used. If electoral boundaries are not periodically adjusted, population inequities develop across districts.

Adjusting district boundaries can have major consequences not only for the legislators who represent the districts, but also for the individual and community constituents of the districts. Ultimately, election results and the composition of the legislature are affected by the selection of district boundaries. But the importance of the redistricting process is seldom recognised outside of political circles. Countries have adopted various methods for delimiting districts. In some, the choice of methods is simply a matter of historical tradition.

In others, methods for delimiting districts have been borrowed from a colonial power or an influential neighbouring country. In still other countries, delimitation is based on a variety of factors that may include geographic size of the country, its physical features, or its financial resources. Recently, countries have taken their political and social context into account when making decisions on which redistricting practices to adopt. Clearly, there is a broad range of possibilities.

Informed decision- making is the best approach to selecting or reforming a redistricting process. Electoral Systems that Delimit Electoral Districts. The delimitation of electoral districts is most commonly associated with plurality or majority electoral systems. Both systems rely heavily, if not exclusively, on single- member districts.

These districts must be redrawn periodically to reflect changes in the population. Plurality and majority systems, however, are not the only types of electoral systems that require the periodic delimitation of electoral districts. Some mixed and proportional representation systems, including the single transferable vote system, also must occasionally delimit electoral districts. The importance of the delimitation process varies, depending on the type of electoral system. Because plurality and majority systems can, and do, produce election outcomes that are disproportional with regard to the ratio of legislative seats to partisan votes, the delimitation process is very important.

It is less important in mixed systems or proportional representation systems. Structure and Rules for Delimiting Electoral Districts. Countries that delimit districts must establish a formal structure and a set of rules for carrying out the delimitation process. Because different sets of districts can produce different election outcomes, even if the underlying vote patterns remain constant, the choice of delimitation practices is important. Electoral legislation outlining the formal structure and rules for delimitation should address the following issues: Who will draw the district lines or boundaries? And who will have the ultimate responsibility for selecting the final districting plan?

Should the persons who draw the districts be independent from the legislature? Should the boundary authority be politically neutral? Should the legislature have any formal role at all in the process? Should some mechanism exist for public input into to the process? Should criteria be adopted for the line drawers to follow? Play Super Mario Bros 3 Game Oldies Street. If so, what should these delimitation criteria be? How often should districts be redrawn and how long should the redistricting process take?

Under which criteria should districts be redrawn? Delimitation practices vary markedly across countries.

In the United States, for example, legislators are usually responsible for drawing electoral district lines. Partisan politics and the protection of incumbent legislators play a large role in the redistricting process. By contrast, politicians in many Commonwealth countries have opted out of the delimitation process.

Districting is left to independent commissions with neutral delimitation criteria for guidance. The reasons for these differences are best explained by the social, political and cultural norms. Tasks Involved in Drawing Electoral District Boundaries. Although the rules for delimitation vary markedly across countries, the tasks involved in drawing districts are generally very similar. Drawing district boundaries entails: allocating seats to sub- regions of the country, such as states or provinces; creating a database minimally composed of maps and population data; assigning geographic units to districts until all geographic units within the territory have been assigned; summarising and evaluating the districting plan. This can be a complex, time- consuming and expensive process. Delimiting Voting Areas.

Most countries, regardless of the type of election system employed, delimit voting areas for the administration of elections. Voting areas are contiguous geographic areas in which all the voters are assigned to the same voting (or polling) station. Since voting areas are used for election administration purposes only, the boundaries of these areas tend to be less controversial, and the delimitation of these areas is usually left to the discretion of election administrators.

However, because the data required and the tasks involved in the delimitation of voting areas are similar to those involved in drawing electoral district lines, the delimitation of voting areas is discussed under the Boundary Delimitation section of ACE. Conclusion. The Boundary Delimitation topic area discusses the types of electoral systems that require periodic electoral district delimitation and considers the advantages and disadvantages of various districting alternatives (see Delimiting Electoral Districts). It considers the formal structure and rules that countries use to conduct electoral district delimitation, or redistricting (see Structure and Rules for Delimiting Electoral Districts). It outlines each step of the district drawing process, from the creation of a redistricting database to describing and evaluating districting plans (see Tasks Involved in Drawing Electoral District Boundaries). In addition, this topic area covers delimitation of voting areas for election administration purposes (see Special Considerations: Delimiting Voting Areas). We hope this discussion will better prepare countries to make informed decisions on whether to delimit electoral districts and, if so, which boundary delimitation practices to adopt. Context of Boundary Delimitation.