Homer Hickam: Dear Astronauts

FYI,

"Dear Astronauts"
Homer Hickam's Blog
http://www.homerhickam.com/cgi-bin/blog.cgi?id=49

: Dear Astronauts of the Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas:

: I just had to write you. I know I said I wasn't going to comment on
: NASA anymore in my last blog titled "Homer Shrugs," but the bad
: news keeps getting worse so I'm driven to the computer.

: In case you haven't been paying attention, it appears that the
: Obama Administration simply is not going to listen to anyone and is
: going to proceed on its plans to shut down NASA's human spaceflight
: program. That means you have a target on your back (and your front,
: too). President Obama will be making a quick touchdown at Kennedy
: Space Center to announce this plan on Thursday, probably couching
: it in obtuse, meaningless inspirational language including a
: vacuous call to send Americans to Mars. He also will announce an
: increase to NASA's budget, then leap back onto Air Force One to go
: to Gloria Estefan's Miami mansion for a $30,000 a plate fundraiser.

: Of course, he won't mention that most of that increase is going to
: be used to shut down NASA facilities, pay the Russians off, and
: create study after endless study that will go absolutely nowhere.
: You do realize that, don't you?

: Mars? If we can't go to the moon, we sure can't go to Mars. It's
: idiotic to think we will without a real plan and there is no real
: plan except to use NASA as a slush fund to try to prove global
: warming. John Holdren, the head of the White House Office of
: Science and Technology Policy, is a climate change loon who now has
: his hands on all the levers to make NASA into his image. In more
: serious societies, John Holdren would not be allowed anywhere near
: the center of power. He would be the daffy professor on the old
: bike teetering to his class where his students would snicker at him
: and throw spitballs when he turned his back. What have we come to
: in this country to put such a man over our space and science
: programs?

: So listen to me carefully, all you in the CB Office of JSC,
: i.e. astronauts. Make no mistake. The Obama/Holdren plan means no
: more of you are going to fly into space except for maybe a few
: every year (for a little while) as passengers with the Russians.
: For those few of you who get to play spam in the can, we taxpayers
: get to pay through the nose to the tune of fifty million dollars
: for each seat you occupy. What you get to do, besides fly (don't
: touch anything, now), is to pretend that those smirks on the faces
: of your Russian trainers aren't because you are the representatives
: of a once great space power now reduced to the capability of, I
: don't know, say, Belgium.

: Right now, there are around 120 of you in the Astronaut Office at
: Johnson Space Center. Most of you are now out of a job whether you
: are willing to admit it or not. You are NOT going to fly into
: space. You ARE going to be allowed to wear your blue suits and go
: around and pretend to be astronauts. Space campers are going to
: laugh at you since the kids will have better training facilities
: than you do. The Obama/Holdren plan is going to end up with Johnson
: Space Center tagged with a great big placard that announces:
: ABANDON IN PLACE.

: The only way to head all this nonsense off, in my opinion, is for
: at least ONE of you to stand up and announce you have had it and
: you aren't going to take it any more. Is there not one of you
: willing to resign in the face of this treachery by NASA
: Administrator (and former astronaut) Charlie Bolden? Or at least
: voice a dissenting opinion?

: You have your jobs because of the courage of men like Alan Shepard.
: What do you think Admiral Shepard would have done if the likes of
: John Holdren prissed himself up and said he was going to shut down
: the space program? After Herr Professor picked up his teeth,
: Shepard would have announced to the world he was no longer going to
: be a part of a hollow program and was going back to flying jets for
: the U. S. Navy. Just about every astronaut of the old breed would
: have done the same. How about you?

: In my opinion, the only people left who can derail the end of NASA
: are you, the astronauts. During my entire time at NASA, every
: engineer, manager, technician, and janitor deferred to you. We
: treated you like gods. Nothing you said was ever wrong. How about
: giving a little back now? Stop this thing. Stand up and tell the
: world the emperor isn't wearing any clothes, that the space program
: he touts will destroy your hopes and dreams, not to mention all
: those who have supported you so well. What are you waiting for? Are
: you afraid it will keep you from flying? Get over it. You're not
: going anywhere unless you lower yourself to kowtow to your masters
: to crawl aboard the Russian Soyuz leaving the rest of your buddies
: still stranded on Earth. That's demeaning. You're better than that.
: Aren't you? The Right Stuff, remember?

: So, there it is, my challenge to all the residents of the Astronaut
: Office. Let the powers that be know what you think. Show all
: deference to the President or the Administrator or even John
: Holdren but after you're through shaking their hands or saluting
: them, whatever is proper, turn your back on them. And you might
: also want to hold up a single finger showing that you believe the
: United States should still be the #1 space power. The choice of
: finger is up to you.

: Your former colleague,

: Homer Hickam

Mark Reiff