Is there such a thing as having too much passion? For wanting to change the world, one space vehicle at a time?
We are engineers. We work at NASA or for a NASA contractor. The programs we slave away on are given unrealistic budgets and schedules and we are the ones who think outside of the box to try and make all of the jigsaw pieces fit together. Technically, we can do anything we set our minds too. All of us have that mindset. Anything is possible.
What does stop us in our tracks? Or at least slow us down to a slow crawl? Politics.
In my first blog post for this site back in January 2010, I wrote that sometimes dreams need course corrections and that was written about NASA changing directions from the Constellation Program to some unknown future. Here we are 21 months later and not a whole lot further down the road. NASA is saying 2017 instead of 2015 for first flight of the Commercial Crew vehicle to the International Space Station (based on funding forecasts), the heavy-life launch vehicle has only recently come to life as a reincarnation of Saturn V (at least in paint colors), and I’m trying my best to stay positive and believe in a future in the Aerospace Industry.
But I keep coming back to my naive dreamer post from October 2010. It’s now 13 months later and I’m still a naive dreamer and keep getting hurt. Why do I keep letting the government and thus NASA dim the lights on my passion? NASA will never get the funding to do what we as children were told was going to happen in our adult lives. At least they won’t in our lifetimes. So why are we still here? Why are we holding on? Is it for the paycheck? Do we think we can really make a difference so our children or grandchildren can experience what we dreamed of?
Why am I here? What good am I providing? How am I making a difference in the world? Do I have too much passion for this field and thus destined to be disappointed? These are questions I’m currently exploring and I simply don’t know how to answer them right now. Another phase of the naive dreamer coming to an end.
Reaching for the Stars 
Cindy you are so right and the collapse of programs such as Constellation is a severe emotional jolt and it makes all with passion for space progress to ask the very questions you ask. Most importantly, we must not lose passion. If we do, then the ongoing pressure on politicos to let our passion proceed will fade. It definitely helps to snap, snarl and growl when these collapses happen; otherwise the politicos think space enthusiasts have lost interest or are indifferent.
I understand what you’re saying. I also have a passion. While I do not work in any particular industry I still have a desire and dream. And think about my place in the world. What difference I can make in 1 life or 1000. As long as we keep that passion and outreach people with our words and actions and passions and ‘preaching’ and thus never forgetting those dreams – that alone is worth a lot. Coming together with like-minded people is a powerful thing. Dialogue. Things will happen.