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A trial attempt to use commercial electronic-mail networks to link astronauts
aboard the space shuttle with people on Earth has revealed an unexpected
problem. It seems that so many people are keen to send messages into space,
the result could be a mountain of electronic junk mail that astronauts would
be unable to wade through.

On its most recent flight, the space shuttle Atlantis carried a Macintosh
computer connected to an e-mail network called Applelink via radio signals
and ordinary telephone lines. The e-mail address for the astronauts, which
has since been disabled, was ‘j adamson’.

But, somehow, the rumour spread that the shuttle’s address was ‘atlantis’,
and messages soon piled up in that electronic mailbox, which happens to
belong to the terrestrial Apple Computer company.

Most of the messages had ‘a friendly tone’, says Debra Muratore, who
manages the e-mail project for NASA in Houston. But NASA officials are now
wondering whether public overenthusiasm will prevent astronauts aboard the
planned space station from using commercial e-mail networks.