Space Quote: Escaping the Aches and Pains of Earth

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): NASA astronaut Don Pettit. (NASA)

“You’re floating, and your body, all these little aches and pains, and everything heal up, and you feel like you’re 30 years old again and free of pain, free of everything, and ready to do your mission work. So, I love being in orbit. It’s a great place to be for me and my physiology.”

-Comment by NASA astronaut Don Pettit during a press conference after his return to Earth from the International Space Station. The 70-year-old spent 220 days on the station. His 70th birthday was the same day he returned to Earth aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

Space Quote: Gambling with the NASA Administrator Nominee

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Credit: Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay

“In my early 20s, I was fortunate to experience business success at a young age, and I spent time in casinos as an immature hobby…The legal matters referenced were, in fact, forms of negotiation and were all resolved promptly. The incident at the border, following my return from the Olympics, stemmed from a payment issue that had already been resolved, which is why I was detained for only a few hours.”

-Statement by NASA Administrator nominee Jared Isaacman in a Reuters news article discussing his past arrest on fraud charges as well as lawsuits in two states for writing $2 million in bad checks to casinos. One of the casinos cited in the article is Donald Trump’s Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City, now out of business. The early ties to Trump are interesting, particularly given Mr. Trump’s problem with his finances as well. So this is what we have coming into NASA – a man who likes to gamble large amounts and not pay his bills. Now he wants to gamble with the taxpayers’ money. This is not an auspicious start.

Space Quote: Senator’s Warning About NASA Cuts

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. (NASA)

“When you pull the plug on major space science, it’s like eating your seed corn; it’s so damaging to our entire ecosystem when it comes to American leadership and innovation in this area…We will lose engineers, we will lose others to China. In fact, they are launching a major space exploration initiative.”

–Statement by Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen commenting on potential DOGE cuts after visiting NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center just outside the Washington, DC Beltway. The Center is home to the nation’s largest organization of scientists, engineers and technologists who build spacecraft, instruments and new technology to study Earth, the sun, our solar system, and the universe.

Space Quote: More on the DEI Issue and Artemis

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Artemis II crew members greeting a crowd in April 2023. From left to right is Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen and NASA astronauts Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman, and Christina. (NASA)

“[I]t is important to note that the change in language does not indicate a change in crew assignments.”

-Statement by a NASA spokesperson to Space.com regarding the recent removal of “DEI” language from the Artemis mission page. The scheduled crew for the upcoming Artemis II mission includes one woman, one person of color, and one international astronaut, as stated earlier on NASA’s website.

Space Quote: The Cutting Continues at NASA

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Credit: Image by David Yonatan González from Pixabay

“Good work by @NASA this week:
-Eliminated their unused Purchasing Cards (~80%)
-Terminated ~$420M in unneeded contracts, including $45M ($15M each) to three separate consultants, all for “Change Management Support Services””

-Statement on Twitter/X by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The specific “unneeded” contacts being cut beyond the three provided contracts is unclear. What is the chance that any of the cuts will impact SpaceX or other Musk interests? Probably zero at this point. We will need to wait for more transparency once the dust settles.