Long Delayed Update

So, lots of big changes in the past few months!

I'm now with SAIC, working on science payload support for the ISS Program. I decided my future wasn't in simulation development. SAIC is willing to get me certified in systems engineering and my new management is explicitly supportive of my goal to eventually work on lunar mission planning. It's only been three months, but I've already had my first evaluation and my first raise!

For all this week, I am in Florida at Kennedy Space Center for hardware testing on one of the payloads my office sponsors. I didn't get much sleep last night, but it was worth it to see the Delta II rocket launch. My first launch viewing ever!



The end of my trip will be capped - weather permitting - by watching the Shuttle land on Saturday. Then, I'll catch a flight back to Houston to spend the remainder of the weekend at home.

Between OpenNASA.com, the Cosmo.Sphere blog, working on the JSC Barrier Analysis team, doing my day job, and maintaining some semblance of a personal life (Oh, and the hurricane in September!), I haven't updated this blog as often as I should.

Another leap

It's amazing how things can change in just a few months.

Since I last posted here, I attended UN Headquarters for a conference on integrating young professionals in the workforce. It was my first trip to New York City, so I enjoyed every minute. I've also gotten more deeply involved in the effort to transform Johnson Space Center and been named to a team that will do "Barrier Analysis" to help figure out how we can get the community to buy in to the coming changes. That should get rolling soon. I'm also now the contributing author on spaceflight for the Houston Chronicle's Cosmo.Sphere blog!

I also came very close to changing my career path. I was interviewed and pursued by two other companies, but I decided that one wasn't really where I wanted to go and the other never actually got their act together enough to give me an offer before I made up my mind. I'm going to keep on working where I am and try to take on work that is more in line with my career goals. Rather than just doing something different, I'm going to target opportunities in flight operations and mission planning.

Just this past weekend, I was given reason enough to change my mind about not being in Obama's camp. Since the general election started, I've been utterly appalled at how quickly McCain's campaign went for the gutter. It didn't work for Clinton, so I don't know why McCain thinks it was a good idea for him to align with the people who torpedoed his 2000 campaign. Obama also just announced that he will not cut NASA to pay for education, that Sen. Bill Nelson and former Sen. John Glenn (both former astronauts) will advise him on space policy, and that he is committed to robust manned and unmanned exploration of the "moon, Mars, and beyond."

It's a sea change from his plan earlier this year and does seem to be based on an honest re-assessment. Thanks to Sen. Nelson and Sen. Glenn, Obama has already directed his staff to look elsewhere for funding his education plan. As I argued months ago, space exploration and education funding should never be pitted against each other. I'm glad to see Obama came around on this.

Busy Spring

Real life has kicked in high gear. In addition to my usual job, I'll be volunteering at the Yuri's Night celebrations here in Houston on Saturday. I'll help man the NASA exhibits and give a talk on Constellation in the morning, run home in the middle of the day to let the dog out, then come back to help run the evening shift. I've also had the honor of being invited to help in the next iteration of the JSC 20-year outlook plan. I'm really excited about this opportunity and plan to make the most of it!

In the meantime, my wife is out of the country on a school-sponsored trip to China. I'm holding down the fort and counting down the days until she gets home. Fortunately, this has given me an opportunity to show the cat that I'm the boss, too! :)

Space Advocates to Obama: A Grassroots Effort to Effect Change

I've decided to turn my concerns into advocacy. I've begun an Internet grassroots effort to recruit fellow industry professionals and space enthusiasts to write the Obama campaign and convince the Senator to change his position on manned space exploration.

If you'd like to help, please join us! You can join our Cause at Facebook: Space Advocates to Obama on Facebook

If you're on NASAspaceflight.com, please add to the discussion.

You can also feel free to take this draft letter below (adapted from the original e-mail I sent his campaign) and add your own name. Please add your own thoughts and concerns, so long as done respectfully. The more letters we can get to his campaign that show space exploration is valued in America, the better.

Dear Senator Obama,

I am writing to you today on behalf of the thousands of scientists, engineers, researchers, and support personnel in America's space program and the countless more enthusiasts who support sustained human space exploration. You announced that it is your intention to delay the Constellation Program for at least five years and divert the funds to an education program if elected President. Senator, I honestly do not understand the logic in pitting space exploration and education against each other. In my experience, both are equally important and both are vital to our nation's future. Congress has traditionally agreed with that view and kept funding for NASA and education separate to avoid hampering the efforts of both.

As a member of our nation's Senate, you must also know that NASA only receives seven-tenths of a percent of the federal discretionary budget. On the other hand, the Department of Education receives approximately five times that. At the federal level alone, we already spend significantly more on education than space exploration. When state and local expenditures are included, there simply is no comparison. If the funds for your education initiative are needed so badly, why not instead focus on reducing the tremendous overhead costs in the American education system? Despite spending nearly as much per capita on education, our friends in Europe succeed in getting, in some cases, nearly twice as much actual funding to the students and teachers. Surely we can realize more effective change in education by better spending the money that is already there than stripping funds from a politically visible, but relatively small program in terms of discretionary spending.

We must also keep in mind that space exploration has been vital to understanding both our place in the universe and our place here on Earth. The pursuit of knowledge is a noble and just calling and goes hand-in-hand with education. It has been NASA scientists and satellites that played an unparalleled role in figuring out how the world's climate is changing as a result of human pollution. It has been NASA-funded research that led to breakthroughs in medical imaging and materials science, just to name a few. NASA cosmologists and satellites have been and still are unlocking some of the secrets that will help us understand the very nature of the universe itself. The cordless power tool industry is directly traced back to the Apollo program. We can only begin to imagine what new technologies will be developed and fundamental science will be learned as we establish a permanent presence on the Moon, much like we have established scientific research stations on Antarctica.

Will you reconsider your position on the Constellation Program, or at least offer your own proposal for sustained human and robotic exploration of the Solar System? If not, can you explain how you reconcile your stated support for science, technology, and engineering innovation and getting more American students interested in those fields with advocating a policy that will lead to at least a ten-year gap in which the United States will not have the ability to send humans into space? Do you believe that space exploration is a worthwhile endeavor, as I do, and will you give it the support that is deserved?

Best regards,
-----

His campaign's mailing address is:

Obama for America
P.O. Box 8102
Chicago, IL 60680

Not In Obama's Camp

A few weeks ago, I sent the following letter to Obama's campaign in response to his announcement that he wants to take NASA funding for the Constellation Program for five years to help pay for his education initiative.

Dear Senator Obama,

My name is ----. I served my country in the War on Terror as an intelligence officer and now I serve my country in our pursuit of greater knowledge of our universe as a contractor working on the Constellation Program. I ask that you indulge a brief overview of my story, as I believe it essential to understanding my question. Since I was three years old, it has been my dream to become an astronaut. I believe that there is no higher calling than to push back the boundaries of what we know and where we can explore.

Knowing that a solid education was essential to my goal, I worked hard in primary school, started college at the age of 16, and earned my B.S. in aerospace engineering from Texas A&M University. While an undergraduate, I did three NASA internships at Johnson Space Center. After finishing college, I spent nearly three years in DC working as an intelligence officer because I believed that I needed to follow the courage of my convictions and make my contribution to the freedoms I so enjoy as an American citizen.

When the time was right and my dissatisfaction with this administration came to a head, I resigned from government service and went back to school. I earned my M.S. in mechanical engineering from Rice University to both be close to my wife, a medical student here in Houston, and better position myself to get back involved in space exploration.

This May, I accomplished that goal by submitting my Master's thesis and accepting a position working on modeling and simulation for the Constellation Program. I have the honor and privilege of being at the forefront of our nation's future and look forward to playing an integral role in our efforts to return to the Moon and establish a research outpost akin to those on Antarctica.

However, you announced that it is your intention to delay the Constellation Program for at least five years and divert the funds to an education program if elected President. Senator, I honestly do not understand the logic in pitting space exploration and education against each other. In my experience, the two are intertwined and both are vital to our nation's future. As a member of our nation's Senate, you must also know that NASA only receives seven-tenths of a percent of the federal discretionary budget. On the other hand, the Department of Education alone receives approximately five times that. Surely there are more costly and less effective programs to cull from if the funds for your education initiative are needed so badly?

Space exploration has been vital to understanding our place in the universe and our place here on Earth. It has been NASA scientists and satellites that played an unparalleled role in figuring out how the world's climate is changing as a result of human pollution. It has been NASA-funded research that led to breakthroughs in medical imaging and materials science, just to name a few. We can only begin to imagine what new technologies will be developed and fundamental science will be learned as we establish a permanent presence on our nearest neighbor in the Solar System.

Will you reconsider your position on the Constellation Program, or at least consider offering your own proposal for sustained human and robotic exploration of the Solar System? If not, can you explain how you reconcile your stated support for science, technology, and engineering innovation with advocating a policy that will lead to at least a ten-year gap in which the United States will not have the ability to send humans into space? Do you believe that space exploration is a worthwhile endeavor, as I do, and give it the support that I believe is deserved?

Best regards,
-----

Since sending his campaign the letter nearly a month ago, I have had no response other than the standard "We got your letter and we promise someone is looking at it" BS form e-mail. Instead, I've been sent several e-mails a week insisting that the Obama campaign needs my monetary contributions. Screw that. I just sent a request that I be removed from all of their mailing lists with the following explanation.

I sent your campaign a detailed message a few weeks ago explaining my background and my concerns over Sen. Obama's proposed policy to gut space exploration for his education initiative. I have received no actual acknowledgment from anyone in the Obama campaign that my concerns are taken seriously. Instead, I have repeatedly been sent e-mails asking for campaign contributions. So much for the campaign of change!

I have shared my experience with every registered voter I know and many of my friends and colleagues have expressed that they will not vote for Sen. Obama now. I realize that I am just one person, but there are nearly 17,000 full-time NASA civil servants and nearly 40,000 NASA contractors. How many of them does the Obama campaign think will vote for a candidate that has made clear that he doesn't think their work is important? Right now, no one in my household nor any of my colleagues will. As long as Sen. Obama ignores our concerns, that number will only rise.

I guess this means I won't be invited to any of their events they might have here in Texas. :)

Gun Ownership

I am now the owner of a Model 59 9mm Smith & Wesson double-action pistol. I inherited it from my dad when he died, but I did not take possession of it until this past week. My uncle held on to it for me until I could prove to him that I knew how to handle it and how to operate it. The wife and I went with him and my aunt to a shooting range near Denver last week where we both demonstrated basic proficiency and an adequate knowledge of gun safety. With a TSA-approved case and lock to contain it, we brought it home on the return flight after getting it inspected.

In a way, it's kinda weird given my long-standing aversion to violence. However, it is my right and range shooting is actually pretty fun as long as everyone is safe about it. With my Model 59, I actually got several dead-center hits on the target. With my aunt's .38 Special, I was able to keep up with my uncle in making torso hits. With my uncle's .45 Combat Commander, he pretty much smoked me... but it is his gun. :)

I need to talk to my martial arts instructor to get the name of the range here in Houston that he likes. They teach safety and maintenance classes, which I need to learn. Now that the gun has been fired, I need to make sure that it is cleaned soon.

First Anniversary

My wife and I celebrated our first anniversary this weekend. We went up to Gruene, Texas (within the New Braunfels city limits) and stayed in an inn on the Guadeloupe River. I got a really cool "river package" that included a day full of rafting on Saturday.

Our planned guide ended up bailing at the last minute for a "family emergency." It turned out that the guy in the couple waiting next to us worked as a guide for the same company when he was in college. He knows the owner, so he offered to be our guide if the company would comp his and his girlfriend's rafting for the day. They agreed and we had a blast.

It took us about three hours to get all the way down to the exit "beach" near the low bridge into Gruene. The water was damn cold, but it felt great in the hot Texas sun. The "rapids" weren't too rough, but they were fun just the same and I got drenched! As the next-strongest-swimmer and paddler, our guide had me take the front whenever we went over a fall.

We then spent the rest of Saturday evening in Gruene itself. I found some original prints of North American's "Century Series" fighters that the antiques house bought from an estate auction of a former test pilot. I've just got to decide which ones to give my dad for Father's Day (he's a history buff, too) and which ones I want to keep! Big Grin There are two F-86 Sabre prints, one F-100 Super Sabre print, one T-6 Texan trainer print, and a photo of the pilot in a Lockheed Shooting Star! I got them all for $58.

Our river package also included dinner at one of the grills overlooking the river. We split an incredible pork tenderloin dish and some strawberry shortcake. :)

Today, my wife and I spent the day at Natural Bridge Caverns before we came back to Houston. She and I love geology and caves, so I knew we had to go there. I hadn't visited it in 10 years, so I was excited to see the renovations. $25 each gets you a combo pass on both their North Cavern tour and their Jeremy Room tour.

The North Cavern tour is their standard, 75 min tour that they've been giving since the 60s. It's still gorgeous... if 70 degrees and at 99 percent humidity! I got some great pictures. I really enjoyed the Jeremy Room tour, though, because it was a smaller group and we got to carry our own flashlights. The new tour is through a previously unopened cavern that was never even inhabited by bats. As a result, the "soda straw" formations can get up to several feet long and the room is pristine except for where the pathway and the original exploratory borehole go.

For the first day of our honeymoon, we went and looked at dino fossils in Colorado. For our first anniversary, we went and walked around in caves. Hehehe, we're such geeks... and I wouldn't have it any other way. :D