Bay Area Houston

Some might think it’s all fun and games. It’s not.

NASA employees are in their second week of being furloughed. What happens when NASA employees are furloughed? Not much, literally. Basically employees are forbidden by law to work during a furlough. That means they cannot go to the office. They can’t work from home. They can’t conduct or participate in telecoms.

Do they get paid for not going to work? Depends. If the furlough continues past the pay period employees will not receive their paychecks because, well the government is closed, including the office that issues checks. The question this time is whether they will receive back pay for the time they were furloughed. In the past, or at least the last 4 furloughs, back pay was authorized.

This time might be different. The million of federal employees furloughed might have to suck it up and take a very costly hit all while members of Congress will get full payment. The argument will be easy. “If you didn’t work, you shouldn’t get paid.”, or “If I didn’t work I wouldn’t get paid.”. Even though federal employees were forbidden by law to work they might not get paid leaving them with unpaid mortgages, etc.

Some employees at NASA will be designated as essential such as those who manage the Space Station at Mission Control. Contractors are not affected by the furlough. While the furlough continues some employees may find out they are fired.

But that won’t happen until they get back because, well the government is closed, including HR.

To be perfectly honest, there wasn’t much to heckle him about….until….

At the end of Congressman Brian Babin’s softball interview at Rice University Babin had to make the mistake of lying to the small crowd and he was called out for it. It was ugly. Babin was defending the NAZI saluting Elon Musk and DOGE claiming they had found millions of people over the age of 115 collecting Social Security checks. (It’s not true.)

A number of groans came from the audience with someone in the front row (me) yelling “That is not true Congressman!” A number of people chimed in calling him out on his stupid comment. A disabled individual went off on a tangent about going to Mars causing a problem for security. I continued with comments towards Babin such as “Your boss is a liar, you don’t have to be one too.” Others in the small audience were vocal and not happy that he resorted to what Republicans are good at, lying. The moderator then ended the event.

As Babin was leaving the podium I asked if he would come to his district and meet with his constituents. His response was “I’m not going to do that”. Babin has been in office for over 10 years and has never met with his constituents besides with the business community.

Fucking coward.

The event is not in the district but it is close.

Congressman Brian Babin will finally make a public appearance on August 27 at Rice University to discuss the massive cuts to NASA, science, and research. Ever since being elected to Congress, ten years ago, Babin has never addressed his constituents in person. Instead he has “teleconferences” where he defends everything trump is doing and then takes pre-screened questions from his supporters. Questions like “Trump is like Jesus.” which isn’t even a question but whatever. Like his telecoms he will probably not take questions.

So, if you would like to attend, it is free. August 27 3:00 PM. Rice University. Be there. It will be wild. Personally I hope they boo the living shit out of rotten ass. Click here for tickets.

Another Xplosion.

SpaceXplosion has a serious systemic problem. How many more explosions is the FAA going to tolerate before they determine the root cause of these mishaps. How many more explosions will the local residents tolerate? Who has to die before someone makes SpaceX stand down until they determine WTF is going on?

The video to the left is disturbing. Not only was the vehicle destroyed but the pad was destroyed and I would bet homes in the area might have damage. There is probably environmental damage as well. But watch that video and count between the time you see the explosion and the time you hear it. The people who took the video was just over a mile away. I was able to get a pass on “The Causeway” to see a Shuttle Launch many years ago. That location was about 8 miles away. My parents were VIPs at the visitor center which was just over 3 miles away. You can actually hear the person who took the video comment about the heat from the Xplosion. They were that close.

After this many accidents SpaceX needs to stand down and determine the root cause of the multiple failures. Calling the explosions cute names like a RUD “Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly” isn’t funny anymore. These accidents have become a RUFUS “Rapid Unscheduled Fuck Ups”.

You can watch the official SpaceX video below. If you watch from a couple of minutes before the explosion you will hear them talking about a June 29 launch and what I consider as an unprofessional attitude to a very serious endeavor. They then reference to the event as a RUD but then simply refer to it as what it really happened. It blew up.

Again.

Every elected official in the NASA/JSC area including Senator Cornyn and Cruz, Congressman Babin and Weber, State Senator Mayes Middleton and Representative Dennis Paul, are supporting these massive cuts to NASA/JSC.

The Hill has a great article titled “Trump’s NASA Cuts: The Good. The Bad. The Ugly.” If you are supporting NASA in any way, shape or form, you might want to take time to see how your particular project is going to be affected. The major cuts will devastate the JSC community. Here is a quick list of cuts affecting the area:

• Gateway Program. CANCELLED. Gateway is a space station around the Moon. Components have already been delivered.
• Orion. CANCELLED. Orion is the capsule that will take astronauts to the Moon and Mars. It has been completed with the 3rd flight scheduled this year.
• Space Launch System. CANCELLED. SLS is the heavy lift vehicle that will take Orion to the Moon and Mars. It has been completed and has flown.

The Republican budget will cut 24% of NASA’s budget but claims to be adding $7 Billion for Moon and Mars exploration which doesn’t make sense since they are cutting the very vehicles designed and built to travel to the Moon and Mars. As some wise ass said to the Houston Chronicle “They are feeding us goat turds and telling us they are tater tots.”

According to the article the $7 Billion will go to the NAZI Sympathizer and SpaceX, and Blue Origin. SpaceX has had multiple failures, or “Rapid Unscheduled Fuck Ups” (RUFUS) and Blue Origin’s claim to fame is sending Katy Perry into space. NASA and their contractors have been working on Orion and SLS since George W Bush was in office, almost 20 years ago and they are now flying.

There are many more cuts that will affect all NASA centers identified in the article, including cuts to the STEM program which is considered “woke”. Take a moment to read it. With Musk’s recent criticizing of the bill his share of the $7 Billion is probably in jeopardy.

The cuts coming to NASA are the beginning of the end of the Agency.

Jared Isaacman was to be the next Administrator of NASA. Isaacman is another billionaire buddy of Trump and Elon Musk. He bought a couple of rides on Musk’s vehicles and conducted the first private spacewalk. (Video here) His confirmation was all but guaranteed but he was asked about his relationship with Musk and the concern about privatizing NASA with tax dollars going to Musk and SpaceX. That didn’t go well.

Isaacman spoke out against the proposed cuts to NASA and sealed his fate as the Administrator. Trump pulled his nomination just prior to a Senate vote to confirm. Isaacman made the mistake of taking his lips off of Trump’s ass and speaking out. Isaacman is out and a yes man will be nominated. According to NPR:

“After a thorough review of prior associations, I am hereby withdrawing the nomination of Jared Isaacman to head NASA,” Trump wrote on his social media site. “I will soon announce a new Nominee who will be Mission aligned, and put America First in Space.”

The cuts are coming and Elon Musk will suck the life out of the remainder of the Agency. Here at JSC the Gateway Program will end. The Orion vehicle will end even though it has already been designed, tested, and flown. The heavy lift vehicle, SLS, will end even though it has already been designed, tested, and flown. These cuts will leave NASA/JSC with only the International Space Station up until 2030. Musk will then take over the Agency, it’s workforce, and the facilities.

Trump thinks he and Musk will be responsible for landing a human on Mars before the end of his reign. In reality landing on Mars will not happen for many decades, long after he is entombed in a monument on the grounds of the Vietnam Memorial.

Count on it.

Crickets.

If you call your local Congressman, Brian Babin, and ask “Has the Congressman made a statement on the massive cuts to NASA?” you will get the response “I haven’t talked with the Congressman on the issue but will pass your comments on to him”. That’s the canned answer to every question on every subject on every day. I’ve called daily asking for a response and they still haven’t talked with the Congressman. Go ahead and try it. I’ll wait. Phone: (202) 225-1555

The proposed cuts to NASA and the shift of money to Elon Musk and SpaceX has the administration considering renaming NASA to the National Administration for Zodiology Investments. (NAZI). But seriously, I am almost being serious. Trump is proposing to gut the Space Agency with a massive 24% cut including cancelling major programs at JSC. Gateway, the space station around the Moon, has had its first module delivered to NASA. It’s being cancelled. The vehicles that will send astronauts to the Moon and Mars are being cancelled. Both the Orion vehicle and the heavy lift rocket (SLS) have already been built and flown. They are both gone along with the jobs.

These programs are serious cuts to the local economy and yet Senator Cornyn, Cruz, Congressmen Weber and Babin (all republicans by the way) have been unable to take their lips off Trumps ass to make a statement. All of them are happy to have proposed moving a Shuttle from Washington DC to Space Center Houston. That might give the engineers losing their jobs an opportunity to become tour guides.

At least Elon Musk is happy. The cuts to NASA are going straight to SpaceX, the guys who like to blow up vehicles.

NASA’s problem is Elon’s profit.

Remember when President Obama cancelled the Constellation Program in 2009? I do. The Tea Party People (pre-MAGAts) at NASA threw a fit! Constellation was a massive, underfunded, program designed to continue the Space Station, return to the Moon and go to Mars. The Obama Administration cancelled the Mars portion (for good reasons) and began investing in the private sector (Space X) for transportation to the Space Station leaving travel to the Moon to NASA.

The right wingers of NASA at JSC went absolutely ballistic. At least one manager was “promoted” to staff after sending an email calling for voting Obama out of office. Others were clearly not happy. Some quit in disgust. Before Elon Musk became a dick the idea of using SpaceX vehicles became cool and was accepted by the NASA community. But now? Massive cuts to NASA are coming in the 2026 budget released by Trump. Most of that money will now go to Musk and SpaceX. Here are the highlights from NASAWatch:

Orion, Gateway, and STEM will gut NASA/JSC. These are programs assigned to JSC. Gateway is a Space Station around the Moon and the first module was recently delivered. It’s dead. Orion is the vehicle that will send humans to the Moon and Mars. It’s gone after the 3rd flight. NASA has worked on that project for over a decade. STEM Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, is an educational program for aspiring young scientists and engineers. Space Launch System (SLS) is a heavy lift rocket designed to send Orion to the moon. It is being designed in Alabama and has had one flight.

$6 Billion out of a $24 Billion budget is massive. Management at JSC has encouraged those who voted for the felon, civil service and contractors alike, to stand up and volunteer to quit their jobs. Needless to say none will take that offer. (I’m kidding).

What will JSC have left? Operation of the Space Station serviced by Elon Musk up until 2030 when Trump wants it decommissioned. Then NASA/JSC will transition to Musk. Musk will provide private sector space travel using our tax dollars. LOL. Seriously. Trump is simply privatizing space travel using our money.

Maybe the NASA MAGAts will throw a fit before being thrown out the door.