View from the inside

"You don't really work for NASA, do you?"

"Yes, in fact, I do."

"No. You don't."

"Really, I do. Why do you think I would lie about it?"

"You just don't look like the type..."

"Look, here's my business card. My name, title...aerospace engineer...NASA logo."

"Aerospace engineer? I thought you guys were rocket scientists."

"Well, I know that's the popular term for it, but there's no one subject or area or work that is 'rocket science.' It's a combination of engineering and math and..."

"Whatever. So what do you do?"

"I'm a systems safety engineer."

"I thought you were an aerospace engineer."

"I am. One is my title and the other is my training."

"You trained to be an aerospace engineer and so they made you a safety engineer?"

"It's an area of specialty. Like a medical doctor who specializes in, say, surgery. He's a doctor but he's also a surgeon."

"Oh. I guess that makes sense. But what do you do?"

"I do safety analysis for the new launch vehicle that will take us back to the moon."

"Oh that. But we've been to the moon. Why not just go on to Mars?"

"Well, there's more than one reason, but a good reason is that it's a long trip to Mars. Astronauts need to practice in living away from earth and in a weightless or low gravity environment for long periods of time. And they need to learn to deal with contingencies without being able to just run back to earth in a few days."

"What have they been doing on that space station all these years?"

"Living and working in space. It's true they've had practice with that, but they still have been relying a great deal on the ground. Supply ships have to go up periodically for example."

"I thought they were supposed to grow their own food."

"Well, the space station is not quite big enough to accommodate that sort of set up." Pause. "Have you ever seen television from up there?"

"Yeah, it is kinda small. Why is that?"

"Because they can only take up modules that fit in the space shuttle and they have to join them. It's actually much bigger than it may seem because of all the modules that have been added."

"So...why don't they grow their own food?"

"Well...that isn't one of the objectives."

"Why not?"

"Because the station has to do science that justifies its existence or else a lot of scientists and politicians on the ground talk about how useless it is. It was meant to be a science platform and a place to learn how to really live in space. But then some scientists said it was not needed or useful and testified to Congress about that. So now the station has to satisfy the planners, scientists inside and outside NASA and the politicians."

"Yeah...well... Why don't they go to the moon in the shuttle?"

"The shuttle doesn't have the power to go all they way to the moon."

"Why don't just add an engine or two to it?"

"Because you can't just hang them on the side. And there's the fuel and oxidizer for them. The shuttle is at it's maximum payload carrying capability."

"Just redesign it then! That would be better than going back to regular rockets."

"A redesign would be very expensive and take a long time to design and build. There have been many design studies for a follow-on to the shuttle program. Using existing and proven technology will get us back to the moon quicker and cost less. It may not be the sexiest vehicle, but faster and cost less. It's a good idea."

"You must work for NASA. All those NASA people say the same thing. I know there are other ideas from people who don't work for NASA. I read about them. NASA just wants to control it all. It should be given to private companies."

"If you think a private company would go through the expense and time we just went through on the preliminary safety review that we just did on Ares..."

"They would. They want to be safe."

"As the safety and inspection records for airliners, and cars with their innumerable recalls, demonstrates."

"What about Challenger and Columbia?"

"Full and open investigations were conducted showing all of NASA's warts along with what we did right."

"And airline crashes are fully investigated."

"By the companies? Who is the NTSB connected with?"

"You just want to defend NASA."

"Yes, you're right." Pause. "And where do you work?"

"Oh, I'm a paralegal."