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>In followup, the advisory board member in question, evidently not such a stick-up-the-ass authoritarian as NASA’s decision makers, was dismayed by the revocati
by AussieWog93 5y ago
>In followup, the advisory board member in question, evidently not such a stick-up-the-ass authoritarian as NASA’s decision makers, was dismayed by the revocation not the exuberance.
Yep, I did a quick Google too.
Full quote:
"I learned she had lost her offer for an internship with NASA. This I had nothing to do with nor could I since I do not hire and fire at the agency or have any say on employment whatsoever. As it turned out, it was due to the NASA hashtag her friends used that called the agency's attention to it long after my comments were gone," Hickam wrote in a blog post Tuesday.
Hickam also shared that he is "certain she deserves a position in the aerospace industry and I'm doing all I can to secure her one that will be better than she lost," and has "talked to the folks that had to do with her internship and made absolutely certain that there will be no black mark on her record."
- WalterBright 5y agoI sent HH an email out of the blue a few years ago with my thoughts on why the space shuttle was not a good design, and he was kind enough to write a nice reply. So I've always thought well of him.
- effingwewt 5y agoThings like him replying are what fosters future scientists/thinkers IMO. Passion should be nurtured. Would it be ok to ask you your thoughts about the space shuttle? Is that weird? I really apologize if so.
- WalterBright 5y agoI told him that obviously the critical expense of getting to orbit was weight. (Of course, I didn't actually tell him anything he didn't know.) Wings, rudder and landing gear are heavy and expensive and are only useful for the last few seconds of flight. All that dead weight did was subtract from what the machine could do in orbit. I said the only thing one really needed to bring back was the crew, and an Apollo capsule would do just fine for that. He agreed, and said he'd argued similarly. Musk had an even better idea. Bring the ordinary booster rocket back without wings, rudder, or landing gear by using a bit of extra fuel at the last moment to kiss the landing pad rather than smash it. That empty tin balloon of a booster isn't going to fall that fast or need that much fuel to do it.
- effingwewt 5y agoRight on, I appreciate it. I can't believe even HH was arguing for this stuff and NASA was just like 'eh'. I don't like Elon, his methods, or his companies, but I am grateful for the progress his engineers have wrought! Also have you seen the launches in person? Here we have some that look like glowing floating balls of plasma. When SpaceX was first doing tests everyone was outside thinking it was aliens or a bomb, it was that far outside anything people had ever seen before.
- WalterBright 5y agoI like Elon, his methods, and his companies. He's a grown up Tom Swift. If he was a science fiction character, I'd dismiss him as unbelievable. I hope he gets to Mars before I run out of time.
- effingwewt 5y agoI can definitely appreciate that. Maybe I should restrict my feelings to the man himself and not his job and his companies.
- awofford 5y agoI met him while I was in high school and spent an hour or so talking to him with a few other students. Great guy!