All Aboard the Shuttle Launch Junket
All Aboard the Shuttle Launch Junket
“This notice is being issued as a Request for Quotations (RFQ) for Hotel and Conference/Banquet Facilities for the Space Flight Awareness (SFA) Program STS-122 Event. NASA’s Space Flight Awareness Launch Honoree Award is our most prestigious recognition and honors those employees who contribute to ensuring astronaut safety and mission success. The award is presented to approximately 300 NASA civil servants, NASA contractors and international space agency employees. These employees are rewarded with a visit to the Kennedy Space Center as NASA VIPs. The honorees have the opportunity to view a shuttle launch, attend a reception/dinner in their honor, and meet with top NASA, industry and international space agency officials as well as members of the Astronaut Corps.”
Editor’s note: If NASA and its employees really wanted to relay the importance and experience of space travel - imagine what impact could be generated on America’s educational system if you invited 300 teachers - or 300 students - to a launch - at Government expense. I am very familiar with how awardees are selected at NASA having once been a NASA employee myself. While many honorees have indeed worked very hard to get an award, it is usually a matter of managers looking around to see who hasn’t been to a launch yet (or for a while). These shuttle launches are a dwindling commodity - one that will be followed by “The Gap” where no humans leave Earth from American soil. As such, NASA should use these remaining opportunities wisely - for maximum effect and value.