February 1, 2003
Shuttle Crash & Smug NASA Managers
"I F-ing Warned Them!"
by DIAN HARDISON
Two years ago, I was a highly decorated NASA engineer. I was awarded their
highest medal, for Exceptional Achievement -- something that is usually
reserved for senior managers -- because of my expertise.
I was a safety engineer.
I was removed from my GS-13 position, as an internationally-recognized
authority on hypergolic propellants and explosives, and forced off the
Kennedy Space Center. At gunpoint.
Their excuse was that I had "abused government equipment." Because I sent a
friend an e-mail joke.
The reality was that I wouldn't play their "political ball."
I F-ING WARNED THEM.
I told them that the technicians and engineers were overworked. I told them
that there were too many managers and too many meetings and "dog-and-pony"
shows. I told them that their senior "face time" play games, while they
spent all their time plotting how to give each other pay raises, and left
the guys on the floor to struggle day to day with obsolete and overpriced
and unqualified equipment, was going to result in another Challenger.
Read more
< Jung and the Space Shuttle |
Yanic writes on Saturday February 01 2003 @ 10:08PM PST: [ reply | parent ]
In the following snippet from an Arab News article, Bruce Gagnon (respected
Central Florida activist) makes the case that there may have been a nuclear
payload on board.
***
http://www.arabnews.com/Article.asp?ID=22464
"Once again we see that space technology can fail," Bruce Gagnon,
international coordinator for the Global Network against Weapons and
Nuclear Power in Space, told Arab News last night. "I'm troubled because
the Bush Administration has recently announced a program called the
'Nuclear Systems Initiative', a $1 billion research and development program
to expand the launching of nuclear power into space. The problem is that as
you increase the numbers of launches carrying nuclear payloads into space,
but you are also going to dramatically increase the chances of a
catastrophic Chernobyl in the sky."
Asked why NASA was advising extreme precaution at the crash sites, Gagnon
said: "We haven't heard that there was a nuclear payload on this shuttle,
but one of the great hallmarks of the Bush administration is increased
secrecy. I must admit that when NASA said no one should go near a site
because of the toxic potential of the fuels and 'other reasons,' I couldn't
help but wonder what those reasons are."
Due to cuts in NASA's budget in recent years, NASA has been forced to turn
to the Pentagon for increased funding, said Gagnon. The result is that the
space shuttles are now also NASA missions and carry both military and
civilian technologies.
"What you have now is the military takeover of the space program. NASA is
not just about gazing at the stars, it now also has a political and
military agenda." What is of concern, he said, is that the Pentagon in now
working on a program called the "Space Based Laser." "Its nickname is the
'Death Star,' and its job is to destroy other country's satellites, and
also hit targets on the Earth below. NASA hopes to have the first
operational tests by 2016 or 2017," Gagnon explained.
"This would give the US full control and domination of space and the earth
below, because whoever controls space will control the Earth." (Additional
reporting by David Randall of The Independent in New York)
http://www.infoshop.org/inews/stories.php?story=03/02/01/5848434
