Why Is There A Plastic Caged Bird on ISS?
There Is A Plastic Caged Bird on the Space Station
Keith’s note: This plastic caged bird can be found in the Harmony Node of the International Space Station. There has got to be an interesting back story as to why it is there …
Perhaps this is the high tech version of canary in a coal mine.
Could be. But it could be their Polly in their zero-G version of the Monty Python dead parrot skit. A barrel laugh in Zero-G must be great.
Good possibility, though I’d say it would just be jokingly symbolic of that. Or it’s just a pet, since I imagine they can’t have real pets.
If you live at The ISS you are always on the job working for NASA. They got ya, Trapped, like a bird in a cage. Mmm and you also have to parrot the NASA line.
…Juvenalian satire? Needs to be a little bit darker.
What exactly have astronauts on the ISS been “parroting”?
Mr. Squared
A while back I saw an astronaut on late night TV. I don’t recall his name or if he had been to ISS or not. I’m pretty sure he had. Anyway I heard him tell the public about how NASA was supporting commercial Space as well as the Orion SLS exploration program. And of course not a word of how wasteful the program is or what a poor idea it is to build a giant throw away unfordable rocket. So basically he was painting a rosy picture which one could call parreting the NASA line.
I feel that many that work for NASA don’t feel that the SLS thing is a good idea. Had I not educated myself on NASA watch, I would have bought what he was selling.
I didn’t expect that you would have such a low opinion of NASA’s astronauts, and it seems as if your adoration of SpaceX biases your view of what the astronauts do.
I would expect that astronauts are excited about what they’ve done and that some, maybe many, of them like to express that excitement. I would also imagine that astronauts want to get people excited about space. As part of that, I wouldn’t expect astronauts to go on shows and go on about all the things they don’t like about NASA or their jobs. Is that parroting? No.
In fact, I expect SpaceX astronauts to behave exactly the same way, or will they somehow be honor bound to tell the unvarnished truth? I rather doubt that will be allowed. Does Elon Musk only give the unvarnished truth, or does he toe his party line? Did he give the unvarnished truth about the issues with his cars to the media, or did he spin the truth so that his company looked better?
Astronauts have always been, in part, PR instruments for NASA. NASA has always understood that astronauts certainly can raise public interest. Does that mean that astronauts are automatons regurgitating a party line? No, it doesn’t.
One measure of the value of statements, methinks, is whether or not a person is willing to repeat those statements to the subjects of those statements. In this case, I highly doubt that you would openly accuse an astronaut of parroting the company line. I rather doubt you’d confront Chris Hadfield, Mark Kelly, Sunita Williams, or any astronaut past or present with your accusations. It is certainly easy to make accusations online, but it’s much more difficult to do so face-to-face with one you would malign.
Mr. Squared
I agree with you on one point. I agree with you that a Spacex astronaut would act the same. People support their Job and do PR for those who employ them. As for your remarks about talking to people face to face I very much would like to talk this person face to face privately and ask him what he really thinks.
I am very interested in getting us to settle space which means that I am very interested in seeing NASA take on more of a NACA role. And I feel that the whole SLS Orion Exploration thing is just making the public think that Space Exploration/Nasa is just a waste of our hard earned money.
None of that has anything to do with what you claim is “parroting” of the company line. You conflate their statements with parroting when there is zero evidence to make such a statement. Note that suspicion or bias are not forms of evidence.
It certainly does not benefit any discussion about manned space programs to make accusations. Certainly many people are excited by what SpaceX is doing–I am definitely excited–but the excitement shouldn’t be blinding. There are many ways to skin the manned space travel cat, and SpaceX’s is only one. There are certainly more developments to come. I’d be very surprised if Boeing, Lockheed, et al just gave up and didn’t learn anything from SpaceX, the Chinese, or others. The game is far from over.
It is an ex-(plastic)parrot.
I think I know why. Keith has been so relentless in rightly criticizing NASA for its multiple redundant websites and general internet follies that the top brass decided they needed to save face. In a techobureaucratic leap they authorized the hardware, management , and software to be expedited so ISS could send tweets.
ISS now tweets. @ISSbirdbrain
That’s a neat idea.
Maybe SpaceX flew it up there. They did fly a wheel of cheese before.
http://www.spacex.com/media…
Has anyone considered, with the pictures coming down from the ISS, that this is an intentional “treasure hunt” for those looking for various bits of trivia, providing a level of “buzz” that can get some attention on ISS?
Unfortunately none of these little gems has hit the big time– heck, I doubt *any* of “Space Oddity” made it into the mainstream media– but, I am sure, there are enough jokers in the crews to leave us little gems here-and-there.
I think that particular Chris Hadfield got a lot of play. I heard him sing it “live” on NPR, and his YouTube video for that performance has been viewed over 19 million times. The problem is that the public has a very short attention span accompanied by an equally short memory.