so yesterday on our day off i had the privilege of getting a guided tour around nasa that was followed by a brief public-forum with astronautsand people who work at nasa (and run on sentences, i really should go back to school for remedial grammar.)
first and foremost let me say thanks to the people who showed me around nasa, and to the people who were kind and gracious enough to stop what they were doing and explain their work to me.
so here’s what i did…
i saw the worlds largest swimming pool (where they do quasi-weightlessness experiments).
i saw a new type of plasma propulsion system.
i walked around a land-based prototype of the international space station.
i flew the space shuttle simulator (and landed twice, quite well thank you very much).
i met some sophisticated robots.
i ate vegan space food.
i visited a gift shop (to buy some stickers and a couple of mugs).
i saw the original mission control.
i saw the new mission control.
i saw mission control for the i.s.s.
and at the end of the day we had this forum in an auditorium.
nasa is an utterly fascinating place, and the fact that the buildings look so anonymous almost make it more fascinating. you walk by a generic office-park looking building and you have no idea what’s going on inside.
it might be people doing administrative work, or it might be people figuring out ways in which humans can go to mars.
so again, thanks to everyone who made my trip to nasa so wonderful.
moby