Decimating NASA
Published on Apr 3, 2008 at 12:04 pm.
4 Comments.
Filed under NASA, politics.
My students (and others) often ask me why I don’t work for NASA. After all, I would seem to be qualified. I’ve got the right background to contribute something. I certainly have a passion for astronomy and space exploration (both manned and unmanned). So, why don’t I work for NASA? Well, simply put, I rather like what I am doing. Sure, working for NASA would be fun, but I think that I am having a big impact where I am now. Also, I rather like the job security that I’ve got. I have tenure. So, unless I really screw up, or if the college decides not to offer physics or astronomy anymore, then I have a job. It isn’t the best paying job in the world, but it isn’t bad. And, NASA jobs are not really as high paying as most people suspect. But, a lot of people working for NASA are not NASA employees, anyway. Huh? If they work for NASA, aren’t they NASA employees? No. They are contract employees. They are either on contract to do something for NASA, or else they work for some company that NASA had contracted with to do something (work on the Space Shuttle, do maintenance, build spacecraft, etc).
Job security is important for me. And, right now a lot of people working for NASA and NASA contractors are probably feeling really antsy. NASA is phasing out its Space Shuttle program. Eventually, the plan is to replace the Space Shuttle with a new reusable spacecraft. However, the new craft will not be ready to fly, nor will there be rockets to launch it, for quite some years. In fact, NASA will not have any manned spaceflight for at least five years, except for those astronauts that we pay other nations or private companies to ferry into space. There is no great surprise that some jobs will be lost. Certainly, you would expect the army of personnel who prep the shuttles for launch to have little to do until the new spacecraft is ready to go. But, the assumption had been that many of these people would wind up with other tasks, such as preparing the launch site and retooling and reconfiguring equipment for the new program. But, now there is a report that far more jobs will be lost than had previously been suspected by people outside of NASA. As many as 6400 jobs may be lost from the Kennedy Space Center. An additional 2300 jobs may be lost at the Johnson Space Center. Jobs will be lost all over NASA, starting as soon as the end of this fiscal year, unless something is done. At a time when the economy is already strained, a loss of so many jobs can hurt.
This can’t be good for morale. I know that if I worked for NASA, I’d be worried. After all, you work hard, you put a lot of effort into what you do, you are enthusiastic, and you are a loyal employee. Then, you are at risk of losing your job. All of this because NASA is not funded sufficiently to keep you employed. But, what good would it do to keep these people on the payroll if they are not doing anything? Well, the thing is that many of them could be doing something. After all, if everyone who would otherwise lose their job were put to work on the new Constellation program, then it might be finished on time. Right now, there is a pretty good chance that it will not be completed on schedule. NASA is severely underfunded for what it is charged with doing.
President Bush has charged NASA with retiring the Space Shuttle, reestablishing a lunar exploration program with a return to manned missions to the Moon, and a future manned mission to Mars. Unfortunately, money is not following that mandate. So, how is NASA to accomplish its mission? I won’t say that it can’t be done. But, it will be very difficult, and I don’t think that it can be done in the time frame specified without additional funding. It takes money to do these things. And, it takes people. And, those people need to be paid. That means that Congress will have to allot more more money for NASA.
Granted, as NASA is waning, private space enterprises are waxing. Some of the slack will be taken by the private sector, and typically the private sector does things more efficiently than the government. But, there is a role for the government, too, in setting the stage for private space entrepreneurship. NASA can lead the way, and private companies will follow.
Space exploration yields benefits here on Earth. Learning to live and work in space, I believe, will eventually pay off for the benefit of all. But, as with any investment, if you don’t invest any money to start with, you don’t get any return. So, write to your congressional representatives and senators. Tell them how important space exploration is to you. Maybe we can have an influence if we let them know that their constituents believe that space exploration is worth the time, effort, and resources.
-Astroprof
Byrd on April 3, 2008 at 4:43 pm: 1
I would like to add to your comments regarding your current job. You stated that you enjoy what you do and you like the job security of the tenured professor position. I think that another important point is that you are really good at what you are doing. You don’t teach “out of the book”, rather the book is in addition to what you present in lecture, and this makes your classes fun and interesting. I may have a bit of a biased opinion, but I think there are many others who would agree. Your enjoyment of the field comes through in your lectures. So yes, I believe that the more important point rather than the job security is that you are talented at educating and therefore that is where you can best serve others while having fun yourself.
CCPhysicist on April 3, 2008 at 10:57 pm: 2
This news is no surprise to those of us old enough to know why Skylab came crashing down: we shut down the Apollo launch systems based on the original shuttle schedule, only the shuttle was predictably way behind schedule due to budget cuts so we had no way to keep our space station in space. If not for Jules Verne, the ISS would be similarly doomed.
The budget situation is unlikely to get better given the unfunded war in Iraq (not unlike Apollo and Vietnam) and the need to start paying off the loans that Social Security has made to the government starting in 2017.
Few tourists know that those Saturn rockets on display at Kennedy and Huntsville are real rockets built to go to the moon, and that they were sent to a museum when otherwise launch ready after those launches were canceled. Astronauts scheduled to land on the moon waited a decade to fly on the shuttle.
PS- Yeah, your classes must really rock if you are even half as eloquent and organized in class as your blog suggests you must be.
Trunkneck on April 5, 2008 at 9:14 pm: 3
I can commiserate, when at work I do an engineer’s work and get paid an electricians wage. (Heh). Very nice site BTW. I will be returning.
Flingwing on April 10, 2008 at 9:08 pm: 4
Anyone who would ask why you don’t work for NASA either knows very little about NASA, or has never experienced one of your lectures on astronomy.
I feel comfortable enough with both to simply state:
You working for NASA, would be a shameful waste of your abilities as an educator, as well as your knowledge and obvious passion for the science of astronomy.