Sooner a Semifinalist For Journalist-in-Space 04/19/1986 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ MUSKOGEE (AP) Freelance writer Charles Sasser says being picked to travel on the space shuttle is almost like being chosen to go with Christopher Columbus. Sasser, 44, of Gore is one of 100 semifinalists for NASA's Journalist-in-Space Project. Sasser says if he makes the trip it will be an inspiration to children all over America because they will believe that they can do anything. "Where else can a guy who lived in a chicken house when he was a kid get to go into space?" he asked. Sasser has traveled around the United States and Canada on a motorcycle and has served as a homicide detective on the Tulsa police force. Riding buses in Mexico filled with peasants and chickens, stalking wild mustangs in Arizona and escaping an ambush in El Salvador earlier this year are some of the subjects of stories he sells to more than a dozen national publications. Among the magazines that have published his works are Guidepost, a Christian-oriented magazine, Soldier of Fortune and Detective Magazine. He also freelances for The Tulsa Tribune. The South Carolina-based Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication is selecting the journalist who will travel on a future space shuttle flight. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ © The Oklahoma Publishing Co. and its subsidiary, Connect Oklahoma Inc. Article may be downloaded for personal use or research but not for distribution.