In high school, I had this teacher that I really looked up to, a hero. He taught history, made it really interesting and exciting. He was an ex army coloniel. He looked and acted like he had stepped right out of a movie. He exuded charisma. He told all of these stories of incredible things he'd done and seen. A truly larger than life personality. The students all hung on his every word. I was impressionable, I thought of the man as a mentor, and in my eyes he could do no wrong. All I wanted to do was impress this man.
When I was about to graduate high school I was in his office, he asked me what my plans were. I was a techie, geeky kid and I'd been programming computers since I was 9 and had a dream of having a job at NASA. I told him I wanted to work there. He laughed, and it wasn't really a nice laugh. It was a "you're being a fool" kind of laugh. He said "Eddie, you need to be more realistic, set your sights lower. My sons are top of their class at Virginia Tech, and even *THEY* probably won't be able to get a job at NASA. You need to spend a little less time with your head in the clouds." As you can imagine this was devastating.
Showing posts with label nasa. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nasa. Show all posts
NASA May Aim for Manned Mission to Mars by 2033
(Slate) Yesterday, the head of a NASA study group examining the feasibility of a
mission to Mars said that the agency has set a working goal of a 2033
landing. Nature News Blog’s Eric Hand calls it “the first articulation I’ve seen of a specific, shared date for the key goal of both the human and robotic sides.”.. more
Oozing Super-Earth: Images of Alien Planet 55 Cancri e
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