A letter from a space worker and my reply - 2010-02-08 20:42:27
Dear Mr. Hickam,
I want to thank you on so many levels for the inspiration you bring to so many people, including myself. You have become a hero in the NASA community. I can only hope to be as much an inspiration as you have.
I'm 25 and have had the utmost pleasure in working at NASA [center deleted] for the past 2 1/2 years. I had the unbelievable opportunity to come out of college and work on the Constellation program. As you are well aware, this program has been canceled, and although I know I will have the opportunity to work on NASA's next big mission to the moon or mars, I feel like NASA has lost its ambition.
I know I'm still a young worker, and people around me have told me that projects get canceled all the time.
I may be just venting my feelings right now, but i want to thank you for sending the letter to congress and fighting for us and continuing to be an inspiration to the youth of today.
[name deleted]
My reply:
Dear [name deleted]:
Thank you for your note. Be assured that you are the hero here as well as your co-workers at [space center deleted] . Through your efforts, you are building the pathways that will carry our country into the future.
Yes, it's true other programs have been canceled but never so abruptly and callously as this one, especially without any plan on what to do next. This comes at a particularly bad time, just as the shuttles stop flying and the STS program comes to an end. We are left, in effect, with no human spaceflight program at all except some hope that the commercial sector will step up and start flying astronauts to the International Space Station. Whether that will happen or not is not known. The officials who made this decision are clearly not sequential, careful thinkers nor are they at all sensitive to the plight of those who work for them. They are also careless with a grand spaceflight heritage which was given to them, not by government dollars, but by the blood, sweat, tears, and toil of tens of thousands of dedicated NASA and contractor people.
But, Peter, it isn't over yet. The dream is not dead, only the minds of the people who are unfortunately in charge right now. There are battles to be fought and skirmishes to endure. Be certain there are hundreds of us out here who recognize this folly and will do everything we can to turn it around.
Please give my best to your family, your friends, and your co-workers.
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