With all of the political banter and excitement over the second episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. NASA turned 55 and almost no one noticed. On the NASA Twitter feed they jubilantly wished themselves happy birthday and posted a small list of NASA’s accomplishments over the past 55 years. In the list of accomlishments, the highlights humanity can be especially proud of were sending twelve astronaughts to the moon, the Hubble telescope and a spacecraft in interstellar space (Voyager 1). It also contained a wish list of goals they’d like to accomplish in the years to come.
The wish list of items would probably make any geeks top 5 including capturing and studying an asteroid, a new rocket & spacecraft to take astronauts farther than ever before and of course a manned mission to Mars. This government shutdown is playing heavily on the minds of any NASA enthusisat. Neil deGrasse Tyson has often asked for a doubling of the NASA budget which would, according to him, cost taxpayers a half of a penny on the average tax dollar.
NASA’s home page currently informs the public that they are shut down. The notice is also a stark reminder that the positive cultural effect that NASA has had on the health and progress of the US economy over the last 55 years could come to an end if NASA continues to be a pawn in a political chess game. Their birthday however, is a reminder that when humanity puts their best and brightest minds together, we can accomplish the fantastic and the incredible.
Follow NASA on Twitter @NASA. They’ll hopefully be tweeting again soon, but you can always tweet to me @MarkAvo.