Essential Employees At NASA Are Concerned
Keith’s note: I have been hearing from NASA and contractor employees who are still working and considered to be “essential”. “Essential” is a term used by the government and does not mean that other people are not “essential”. That said, those people who have been deemed to have an “essential” role face the same risks, stresses, and concerns as the rest of us. This email from someone at KSC speaks very clearly to this issue. Perhaps NASA can respond to those people who cannot telework and must be onsite.
“Hi Keith,
I am a Contractor employee at KSC working on SLS. Could you do the Mission Essential Contractor Team at KSC a favor and ask the NASA Administrator a question. Since we are all concerned about the Corona virus and since every day at work we hear a Safety message why are we still working SLS at KSC. Seems kinda hypocritical. Close the NASA Centers and discontinue all work in an abundance of caution until we as a Country get through this. Safety first.
Thanks”
Keith’s update: KSC Worker Confirmed with COVID-19, Talk of Titusville
What could be less Essential, than working on a boondoggle like SLS?
C’mon dude. This person is risking exposure to a deadly virus to work on a NASA project. Like that project or not he (and his coworkers) are out there working for your country’s space program. Stop being a jerk.
I think perhaps the way some of us looked at it is that for a project that is billions over budget and years behind, and could be killed some day, that doesn’t really seem to be essential in the way hospitals, grocery stores, etc. are. Working on non-essential work could endanger your life. Is SLS worth that, even for our country’s space program?
Is SLS worth it?
Like it or not, SLS is our space program. Period. Lots of folks complain about it. I sure do. But it is the program of record. Expect NASA to behave accordingly.
Are they taking your temperature when you enter the facility?
I’m not sure stopping work on everything makes sense, but work on SLS at Kennedy may not be “essential” anymore. They have suspended work on SLS at Stennis and Marshall. That probably means the work at Kennedy is not critical to keeping SLS on schedule. As I understand it, that’s part of the definition of “essential” jobs. It might make sense for someone to review that list of essential jobs in light of the overall program’s status.
Agree. This is all evolving in real time. Stay tuned.
I agree, since the work has stopped elsewhere. I also saw that work stopped on the JWST that was scheduled to launch next year.
https://spacepolicyonline.c…
Coronavirus Suspends Work on the James Webb Space Telescope
By Marcia Smith | Posted: March 20, 2020 7:00 pm ET | Last Updated: March 20, 2020 7:00 pm ET
I wonder if the problem is the stage system NASA is using at its Centers and they are still only at Stage 3 at Kennedy, with Stage 4 being a complete shut down of it. I could see a desire to move forward with Commercial Crew, Mars 2020 and other near term launches, but no reason to keep work on the SLS going.
Anyone have a good idea on how Mars 2020 (Perseverance) is going? Orbital mechanics is rather unforgiving.
If SLS slips a month or three, that is almost business as usual, but COVID-19 has already been a significant driver to push ExoMars to a 2022 launch. (http://spaceref.com/mars/ex…
How many remember the issues with Curiosity that delayed the launch from 2009 to 2011? There were a number of missions in the queue that were all shoved a couple years to the right. Those facilities that do mission support and preparation had to deal with a couple years less work than expected.