 Why does the fact that Finogenov had a wooden desk sent up to space a point of contention for Winship?
General Finogenov notified Major Winship that the underground blast was scheduled for the following morning. Major Winship, after receiving the message, discussed precautions with the three other Americans. Major Winship attempted unsuccessfully to communicate with Base Gagarin. "Help?" " Nyet ," said Major Winship, exhausting his Russian. "When?" "Boom—boom!" said Pinov. "I'll try again," Major Winship said and switched to the emergency channel. "Is Pinov. "Pinov's still there," Major Winship said. He crossed with the floating moon-motion to the airlock and entered, closing the door behind him. At the proper moment of pressure, the inner lock slid open and Major Winship stepped into the illuminated central area. His foot was lifted for the second step when the floor beneath him rose and fell gently, pitching him forward, off balance. "Well," Lt. Chandler commented, "even though we didn't build this thing to withstand a moonquake, it seems to have stood up all right." Air currents whisked it away and plastered it against a riveted seam of the dome. Major Winship moved quickly to cut out the emergency air supply which had cut in automatically with the pressure drop. Major Winship said, "they should have made these things more flexible." "You did this deliberately," Major Winship said testily. "I'll be damned surprised," Major Winship said, "if they got any seismic data out of that shot.... Capt. Lawler ascended.
 To him, it's a frivolous display of power and nothing more, especially when materials like aluminum are available.
 He wished he had the same luxury. The Americans have much less room to work with.  He's frustrated with the current situation and is finding himself envious of all the things they don't have.  It's too much of an effort to do something like that, making it a waste of time and resources.  To him, it's a frivolous display of power and nothing more, especially when materials like aluminum are available.