191 - NASA

I'm coming clean. I work for NASA.

I'm not a fed, I'm a contractor, but my livlihood is certainly tied up in the space program. I'm just a budget analyst, but in the bigger picture I'm part of the group who run the thermal vacuum chambers where the astronauts suit up and get used to working with tools. We test almost anything that goes up in the shuttle for off-gassing (so no one gets poisoned by toxic fumes), and to see how it performs under space conditions. A part of our group is also involved in the James Webb Space Telescope, which is another really interesting project.

A few years ago I got to be a test dummy. I wore the suit during a safety drill, so that the altitude techs could practice rescuing an astronaut before the chamber run. I'm not going to lie -- it was fucking cool. See the smile? That was after I busted my lip on a metal o-ring. I only have this crappy picture of me in the undergarment that has the cooling water tubes (and the suit pants) to prove it, but I have the memory so it's all good. Maybe tonight when I get home, I'll write a post about that experience.

Where am I going with this?

The demise of Constellation is really pissing me off, and I don't give a shit if you like Obama or not, he's turning our world upside down and I am NOT a fan. Okay, I wasn't a fan before, this just makes me want to extend my middle finger to him in greeting every time I see his yapping mug on the the telly... which is every. damn. day.

Even before he stepped in, we were in a state of constant upheaval... start this project, get halfway through, funding gets pulled, start a new project, repeat. It's frustrating. But in these economic times it's downright scary. Not only is it a waste, it puts people out of jobs. And an ignorant portion of the public (not all, but the sheep who always believe everything without question) thinks it us, that we're wasting your money (what am I saying -- I pay taxes too, it's also my money). Those assholes are probably singing a chorus of 'Ding Dong the Witch is Dead.'

'What does NASA give us for the money?' people always ask. We're just flying to the moon, so what? All we do is launch rockets. And some don't even believe that we did go to the moon. Fucktards. We haven't been back to the moon... we've barely touched Mars... Yeah, see the beginning of the last paragraph for one explanation.

We've done a bad job of promoting ourselves, and we've let politicians make us look bad. I'm sick of it. A lot of us are fed up (that's also a pun, by the way... fed...eral government...).

So here's a great website (though somewhat simplified) that tells you what NASA has done for the world, it's about more than just Tang and memory foam. Once you put it into perspective, it's a great return on investment. NASA accounts for only 0.5% of the national budget... that's less than half a percent. You probably already know that though. Unfortunately the audience I'm trying to get to probably doesn't even read my blog.

Also, here's a little about the Constellation project, the one Obama chose to cut. It's a project some of my friends worked on, were very excited about, and one whose components were slated to test in our facilities later this year. Another victim of the political game.

And here's a tidbit: about 1,000 feds work on Constellation. They won't be out of a job, because as I learned yesterday, it literally takes an act of Congress to reduce the number of feds, so they have to go somewhere. That means in addition to the contractors who work on Constellation, others are going to get bumped out of positions they are in when the feds shuffle themselves around. Where are they going to go? But government is really tightening its belt... they're suffering just like the rest of us.

Sorry for the rant, it's just really stressful around here right now and I had to vent. Hope you at least enjoyed learning about NASA.