NASA, Slow To Adopt, Now GPS Tracking Astronauts
Wow this seemed like great news until I really looked into it and found it will be the Orlando Police Department who will be tracking and errant astronaut. Lately the news just seems more and more bizarre. See the CNN report here and then hurry back.
For years NASA has operated as if the GPS didn’t exist. They can’t put up a space craft or even launch small sounding rockets without huge, possibly health and environment damaging tracking radars which still, in today’s day and age, require obsolete and, frankly, just plain dumb expensive analog circuits to bring that data back to their fragmented operations centers. Ever stop to think why, except for smooching up to politicians, NASA has to control missions in so many places and why astronauts, as just one example, have to travel relentlessly between many training centers? Ever here of consolidation and economies of scale? Economies? We don’t need no stinking economy, we’re NASA and space costs money, how far would you like to go?
Anyway, you can tell from that paragraph what a NASA fan I am not. I worked for years with the 45 Space Wing (the organization that actually runs Cape Canaveral and “does” launch … NASA provides the politics the US Air Force makes the missions happen) parent organization, USAF Space Command and I never worked with another government agency, including ones I am not allowed to mention, who was more resistant to change and more insular than NASA.
Now we see a fine example of NASA responsibility and employee supervision in action. And astronaut … a US Navy captain of all things … runs amok … and before her case is even finished with the filing charges aspect her NASA boss is on the stand telling everyone what a wonderful person she is and how they should release her because “she won’t do it again.” Boy, these officers and ex-officers really stick together and NASA leadership really believes their own publicity, don’t they.
There’s clear evidence that Ms. Nowak went a bit crazy. There’s clear evidence of probably cause to hold her for the acts she’s accused of. I don’t know how this case will play out, but I know one thing … even a “lofty astronaut personage” can exercise bad judgement. When they do, and they almost certainly commit irrational and probably criminal acts, they deserve that GPS bracelet and they deserve to be treated like other “ordinary” Americans accused of crimes get treated. My hat is off to the Florida justice system and I award a big fat raspberry to NASA for defending the actions of “one of their own” even before they have a clear understanding of what those actions might be. membership in NASA and the astronaut program is not some special elite status that brings a person above the law … got that Colonel(ret) Lindsey?