NASA culture
I went to the Folklife Festival yesterday -- good thing, the weather was almost perfect and today will be THICK AND HOT.
Here's the website: http://www.folklife.si.edu/festival/2008/index.html
I didn't do the Texas part, I'd left it til last and around 3:30 I was too hot and tired to go on there.
Met my friend Gretchen and we did Bhutan song and dance in and out during the day -- her fav since she is a dancer, and she was telling me all day about her great experiences at a contact inprov summer workshops and conference event.
She hung in with me doing a NASA thing in and out all day too. We talked to the engineer who is head of the teams keeping the Shuttle up and going. They had cross sections of the wheels to look at to demonstrate redundant systems. We talked about what was and wasn't redundant, and about his career trajectory and so on. All fascinating. Young guy.
We talked to a married opsex couple, the guy was head of Life Sciences Division and they had both done undersea trainings of astronauts. Then I asked about SF and they were both very up up, although disappointingly full of "manifest destiny" talk and "us against the robots." Turned out the guy had been a Heinlein friend in the days before his death. Wrote SF himself. Handed me his card with website. Looked at it last night: http://underseacolony.com/
Made me wonder about becoming an undersea colonist for a few moments -- retire and then do that. Fun to think about.... Wonder if I would have the adventurous spirit -- not to mention the accommodations to diabetes....
Then talked to a guy who had been an artist for NASA, now retired. He had a portfolio of mostly technical paintings used to illustrate various proposals. Some of the most interesting were for an orbiting fuel station, a permanent lunar base, and a Mars lander. He couldn't bring any of the actual paintings he said -- they belong to NASA, are kept in archives and just aren't made available. Clear he was disappointed not to have one or two at least. Asked if he continued such paintings after retirement and he said he didn't have time. Said he'd be up for illustrating SF but wasn't in those circles.
Left a brief oral history of what I was doing the day people landed on the moon and my reactions.
But the best conversation was with the guy who realized that NASA satallite photos could be used to find ancient human habitations. Young guy. I'd actually seen him on TV before, NOVA I think, but didn't recognize him, but did remember the project and history.
That was probably the most thrilling thing for me personally at the festival. Told him a bit about my khipu project and had started to talk about the reenactments book when of course he had others to attend to. Left my card and got his email address, although not sure if it will make sense to actually be in contact. Still, that was my most exciting point in the day.
Now, back to work.
Here's the website: http://www.folklife.si.edu/festival/2008/index.html
I didn't do the Texas part, I'd left it til last and around 3:30 I was too hot and tired to go on there.
Met my friend Gretchen and we did Bhutan song and dance in and out during the day -- her fav since she is a dancer, and she was telling me all day about her great experiences at a contact inprov summer workshops and conference event.
She hung in with me doing a NASA thing in and out all day too. We talked to the engineer who is head of the teams keeping the Shuttle up and going. They had cross sections of the wheels to look at to demonstrate redundant systems. We talked about what was and wasn't redundant, and about his career trajectory and so on. All fascinating. Young guy.
We talked to a married opsex couple, the guy was head of Life Sciences Division and they had both done undersea trainings of astronauts. Then I asked about SF and they were both very up up, although disappointingly full of "manifest destiny" talk and "us against the robots." Turned out the guy had been a Heinlein friend in the days before his death. Wrote SF himself. Handed me his card with website. Looked at it last night: http://underseacolony.com/
Made me wonder about becoming an undersea colonist for a few moments -- retire and then do that. Fun to think about.... Wonder if I would have the adventurous spirit -- not to mention the accommodations to diabetes....
Then talked to a guy who had been an artist for NASA, now retired. He had a portfolio of mostly technical paintings used to illustrate various proposals. Some of the most interesting were for an orbiting fuel station, a permanent lunar base, and a Mars lander. He couldn't bring any of the actual paintings he said -- they belong to NASA, are kept in archives and just aren't made available. Clear he was disappointed not to have one or two at least. Asked if he continued such paintings after retirement and he said he didn't have time. Said he'd be up for illustrating SF but wasn't in those circles.
Left a brief oral history of what I was doing the day people landed on the moon and my reactions.
But the best conversation was with the guy who realized that NASA satallite photos could be used to find ancient human habitations. Young guy. I'd actually seen him on TV before, NOVA I think, but didn't recognize him, but did remember the project and history.
That was probably the most thrilling thing for me personally at the festival. Told him a bit about my khipu project and had started to talk about the reenactments book when of course he had others to attend to. Left my card and got his email address, although not sure if it will make sense to actually be in contact. Still, that was my most exciting point in the day.
Now, back to work.