Change is Good

I want to encourage anyone that sees my blog posts on Facebook to click through and read them in their entirety and to comment on them. I write my blog to learn how to write things that other people might want to read. It is hard to learn how to do that without feedback.

I have made a lot of new friends since the first of the year (hi Larry :-)). And, I have renewed some old friendships. I am glad to have met these people. I was beginning to feel like I was in a social vacuum. I have always found NASA to be a very socially vibrant work environment. They strive hard to forge a community. They succeed for the most part.

I attended a Maestro User’s Group meeting this week. Maestro is part of the software suite that is written to control the Artemis hardware in the loop simulation system. It is ground breaking software. I am excited to get to use it. But beyond that, I am excited to be a member of a community that uses a piece of software and cares enough about it to periodically meet and talk about it.

I guess that establishes my bona fides as a true software (and space) geek. I remember when I was a teenager me and my friends were determined to build our own space ship and go to space. We never got very far on our private space program but I did end up working on the SLS program to build the next generation rocket that will take us on deep space missions further than mankind has traveled from the Earth before. I guess in that sense I am realizing my childhood dream.

This won’t be the first time that I’ve worked intimately with the space program but it is one of the most direct contributions that I’ve made. It gives you a sense of grave responsibility and pride to work on testing a launch vehicle that will be man-rated.


Sweet dreams, don’t forget to tell the ones you love that you love them, and most important of all, be kind.