13 Dec
2010
13 Dec
'10
9:44 a.m.
On 12/9/10, Joe Bauman <josephmbauman@yahoo.com> wrote:
I don't think many kids are dreaming about doing space science for some corporation.
Remember that NASA doesn't exist in a vacuum (no pun intended). Private industry thrives on space exploration and has since the last of the war-booty WW2 V-2's ran out. Tens of thousands of private contractors are involved in space exploration. University engineering and physics departments are also involved with NASA by the hundreds, if not thousands. The fact is that in the future, just as it is now, most students interested in a "space" career will work for private industry or university research departments, not for NASA directly, regardless of whether NASA is the only game in town.