Official NASA Rubber Chicken Mascot Gets Movie Cameo and Travel Waiver
Keith’s note: This is how the Twitter account @Camilla_SDO describes itself: “I am Camilla SDO, NASA SDO’s Mission Mascot. I help with Education & Public Outreach and I train to fly to Space.” This twitter account is actualy run by Romeo Durscher, a financial management analyst at Stanford. @Camilla_SDO recently tweeted “@JeriLRyan Have my 1st red carpet event this month. Had a small role in Space Warriors with Josh Lucas. So excited. I’ll stick to being me!”
I simply do not understand. First NASA cuts EPO across the agency to meet sequester constraints. Now the FY 2014 budget totally guts EPO at SMD – essentially setting it to $0.00. NASA cuts important education and public outreach projects conducted by education professionals – yet the agency still officially supports and encourages a rubber chicken mascot with a NASA logo to travel to a Hollywood premiere – with a financial analyst? Apparently the rubber chicken and its handler/analyst have a special waiver.
You might want to attend a function in person with Romeo and Camilla to see just how effective they are in spreading the NSA message among young and old alike. You might try getting out among the youngsters and try spreading the importance of STEM education instead of carping about others who do.
Signed:Â A former Apollo project hypergolic propellant chemist and life long NASA supporter
I once had a teacher come up to me at NASA Ames and tell me that after their young students were visited by Camilla the rubber chicken that the teacher had to reassure her students that you do not die in space – they wondered why a dead chicken was traveling in space. No one ever explained that to them. Â That does not sound like good EPO to me.
What difference does it make what he goes or where he does, if people enjoy the journey and get excited about space adventures through a mascot? I also do STEM outreach on occasion when I can, and I used to be an IT Guy. So what? What could you possibly have against a toy that would prompt such a strange and random personal attack. Weird.
I once had a teacher come up to me at NASA Ames and tell me that after their young students were visited by Camilla the rubber chicken that the teacher had to reassure her students that you do not die in space – they wondered why a dead chicken was traveling in space. No one ever explained that to them. That does not sound like good EPO to me.
 You once had a teacher…? So what. That is no reason to throw the baby out with the bathwater. The children i observed interacting with Camilla were prompted to ask questions they might not have, had there been only a grumpy old adult standing around. There are a number of mascots (and their humans) who do wonderful work, not just for NASA but for other organizations as well.
I simply do not agree with you, Neither does NASA HQ. This guy is not “official” in any way yet he continues to make this false claim.
O what utter nonsense. SCARING A LITTLE CHILD. LMAO! Get real. Are you telling me this teacher was so flagrantly incompetent, she panicked at having to explain a fake animal? Like there aren’t millions of them in every toy store? Are *YOU* serious? And she didn’t use the opportunity to discuss “life support” in space? I doubt this story is even true, and if it is, she’s a silly hysteric who shouldn’t be teaching.
I am not “twisted” in any way for thinking a rubber chicken is pretend, LOL… children have rubber dinosaurs, plush teddy bears, beanie babies, action figures, etc. How is any plastic toy a reason to get worked up. Astronauts have taken angry birds and hippo mascots into space, gosh, should… we… um… be TRAUMATIZED by those too? Hmm, maybe we should outlaw rocking horses.
OR, maybe you should just grow up. The more you rant nonsensically, the more obvious it is you have some kind of petty personal chip on your shoulder. NASA HQ has approved her for so many events, I’ve lost count.
Gee Heather, talk about someone with a chip on their shoulder! Get a grip. If you do not like what I have to say then stop reading NASAWatch – you will feel much better, I promise. As for NASA HQ approval, you really should check with SMD on that. Seriously. Â Now go calm down.
In your title you state “Official” but then you are claiming it is not “official”? – in regards to the guy coming up with ideas to make something possible. What is wrong with that?Â
If that kid was really scared, then it’s a testament to how bad our educational system is and thus, further proof that this kind of outreach is needed. I am sure if you do some research on use of mascots in PR, you would find some interesting facts. As for “dead rubber chicken” – have you ever seen one alive?Â
How come you are not doing more STEM outreach anymore? For a while you were pretty involved.Â
The rubber chicken’s handler claims that the mascot is official. Its is not.
Ok, I am starting to see the picture. Sorry, have to first get caught up on all of this. So, funding is being spent on this kind of outreach and call it education? What nerve to just proclaim a mascot to be an official mascot for something. Isn’t there some sort of protection? Now I did a quick search on this rubber chicken and I found several articles stating she is the official NASA SDO mascot. One is this one: http://www.nasa.gov/mission… and the other one is this http://science.nasa.gov/sci… – granted in the second one she is only a NASA ambassador. But they address funding in there. Plus an astronaut supports this idea. Maybe it’s not all that bad? What do I know what gets kids excited these days.Â
Sounds like a GREAT teaching moment to me, actually. In fact, it’s an excellent way to detail life support in the conditions in space. We explain these sorts of things to children ALL THE TIME, it’s how they begin to differentiate fantasy from reality in terms of dolls, toys, easter bunny, fairies, whatever. Totally normal. That’s why we encourage kids to ask questions — so that they learn these things. When I was a kid on the farm in OK, I watched my grandmother hack chickens’ heads off with an ax, LOL…
Camilla is funny & fantastic, thousands of people follow her all over the world. I’m truly surprised to see you bashing this. When I went to NASA Ames for a Kepler project, Camilla was greeted with open arms by people of all ages. Ditto at the JPL Curiosity send-off, and again at MSL Landing party. Kids ran up to her after spotting her from 50 feet away! It was hilarious. You also really aren’t listening to any of the people commenting here, so I’m guessing you must have some sort of behind-the-scenes personal grudge.
Huh? Are you serious? Â The student was terrified that people die when they go into space because some guy brought a dead rubber chicken into their classroom and said it was being trained to go into space. How is scaring a little child a “GREAT teaching moment”? Â You are twisted if you think that this what teachers should be exposing young children to. According to NASA SMD this guy’s rubber chicken is not “official” in any way yet he continues to make this false claim.
Keith,
While I agree with you on this, I think you’re fighting a losing battle. Â As long as HQ sits on its collective thumb the dead chicken will continue wandering around.
Since they could have picked almost any mascot, preferably something that looked more alive, and considering the level of technology that they have at their disposal, I just don’t understand their choice. Â Something even slightly robotic (in function, not necessarily appearance) would seem more appropriate. The chicken always looks exactly like it’s gasping for its last desperate breath, so maybe it’s actually only a nearly dead rubber chicken. If people are running to see it, as the EPO posters here claim, maybe it’s because they’re more attracted to toys, or to the bizarre, than to all the high-tech hardware, in which case the EPO would appear to be failing (or maybe they’re in a classroom and the dead chicken is the only thing from NASA in the room).
Perhaps we could send the SDO EPO people a box of dead rubber Shake n’ Bake.
The guy behind this does whatever he wants – claims he represents NASA – even though NASA SMD has asked him to stop some of this silliness. At one point he was trying to get NASA to spend money to create a copy of the chicken out of materials that would pass NASA safety so that it could fly to ISS.
NASA headquarters does not agree with you.Â
 Keith, a thought, or at least an observation: You quoting NASA headquarter is kind of like Hannity quoting Stalin. So let me understand. Dead chicken from space scares some kids. Gotcha, some kids are scared of little Mermaid. Leaving all that out, I really want to know your thoughts on Camilla as a random mascot. Is she costing taxpayers $$? If so, then I agree (sort of) as Webb is costing taxpayers way more than advertised. You said that “the agency officially encourages and supports a rubber chicken mascot.” So I am honestly confused (new to this topic) where is NASA on this. Maybe you can link me to an earlier feed.
I have spoken to people at NASA HQ SMD. Â I cannot use their names. That’s how it works
 Are you an official spokesperson for NASA headquarters, or are you just voicing your opinion? Since you refuse to provide a source, it would be helpful to know which. If it is merely your opinion as I suspect, it is of no more value than mine or Mr. Gruber.
Whatever you say. Have a nice day.
Keith, so much of your information here is incorrect, illogical and just plain stupid, it blows my mind anyone takes you seriously. You are so constantly condescending and insulting to everyone. Y’know, I quit reading your site awhile back because of all negativity and immature personal snarks. Through shared links, I read a few of your pieces again recently because I was never a grudge-holder, but I can see I’m not missing anything.Â
Will you be attacking Soyuz mascots next?
If Camilla does get cut, it’s because of SABOTAGE and misinformation by liars such as yourself who would rather fuss than have fun. I’d take 10 Camillas over you any day. You should be ashamed of yourself for the way you attack people unnecessarily. Of course you won’t, because you can never see past your own ego. I will never understand people like you.
Gee Heather, you are certainly setting a fine example for adult behavior – pot, kettle, black and all that. You claim that no one cares what I say etc. etc. and yet you continue to spend all of this time typing snarky commentary on my website. You have made your point. From now on you can post on your own blog – not here. Again, get a grip. Have a nice day.
Heather,
Your pointless attacks might do you more good if you at least had a better handle on the English language (I won’t point out your mistakes; I’ll leave it as an exercise for you). Â I would have thought that EPO required properly educated and eloquent speakers to deal with the public. Â Keith doesn’t go out into the public to sell his goods, but a lot of people choose to come to his web site for reliable, professional information. Â So, please feel free to take your 10 Camillas and go elsewhere; we’ll keep Keith. Â Thank you.
Sorry. I don’t reveal names. You will have to find out for yourself.
Keith, I don’t doubt for a minute your report of the one teacher’s reaction, but I know that most of the time, Camilla looks very alive, usually wears astronaut blue, and is unlikely to scare anyone. Indeed, a bunch of other folks in blue seem to like her just fine:Â https://www.facebook.com/media…Â . I’d note in particular the gentleman on the left in the bottom row, speaking of SMD.
Look, I do not reveal sources and it is rather awkward to quote people without identifying them. Â If you think I am wrong then contact NASA SMD at HQ yourself and ask them – then you can tell us who you talked to and what they said.
Look if you do not like or believe what is posted on NASAWatch then go somewhere else. You only have yourself to blame if you keep coming back to beat a dead horse on this issue. Why don’t you post on your blog? Have a nice day.
You have already made your point. You are now acting like a troll.
I think you are reading too much into the tweet above. Nowhere does it say the premiere is in Hollywood or that anyone is accompanying Camilla. You’d be amazed how many fans this “rubber chicken” (as you lacklusterly refer to her) has who may be willing to give her a lift.
Wow. You’ve gone really off the deep end on this one Heather “Pillownaut” Archuletta. “Terrorize” – really? Get a grip.Â
Here is your full post: “Official NASA Rubber Chicken Mascot Gets Movie Cameo and Travel Waiver Pointless attacks? You mean like the one Keith first viciously perpetrated to begin this mess? Like the ones Keith is repeatedly conducting, to vilify good people trying to do their jobs and get people excited about space exploration?
Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. Why should anyone have to “fight” to do good things or make people happy? Why should anyone apologize for a mascot who has gained enthusiastic fans and thousands of supportive followers? You can’t refute the facts of Keith’s blatant abuse, so you attack colloquial English in a comment forum, LOL… that’s priceless. Basically, what you’re saying is that Keith can use public platforms to attack people for years on end, but no one can ever DEFEND themselves against him or even respond to his petty nonsense without being threatened or bullied. For the record, I’d take 10 Romeos over 1 Keith, too. But why won’t he reply? Will you attack Soyuz mascots next or not? Will you petition our government to ban all plastic animal toys so children aren’t traumatized? Will I be told to take my opinion elsewhere because you don’t want to answer for the logic vacuum, here? Or maybe you’ll just block me for pointing out the truth. That will speak volumes, won’t it.
-Heather, not even remotely ashamed to use my real name. How many accounts will you block to keep people from speaking the truth, Keith? If you can name Romeo, and make baseless accusations against him, I’m calling you out.
You can post on your own blog from now on.Â
Have a nice day.
So does this guy do this stuff for free? Sounds great to me, especially with EPO at SMD getting $0.00 now. Right??? NASA can shut down the direct relationship if the chicken does something off. I like how she looks in the image with the blue NASA jumpsuit on.
NASA learned a lot about public outreach from the dynamic Duo. Even the
experts had to realise that Romeo did something they couldn’t and with
no budget, he launched Camilla to international status. Their funding is because Camilla and Romeo work as a team and it is fantastic. Keith, you could be big and admit maybe you got this story wrong. We all make mistakes and just because you thought that you had found something “funny”, you jumped the wrong way.
Get
back on track. NASA is all about innovation and they know it when they
see it. You don’t. You sit in a high chair and cast stones at things you
don’t even understand.
Keith, how long have I been around the
space circles earning a living from “space”? 2 years only. I wrote about
it for free for many years and studied it. Within two years and no up
front money, I am now working on a Mars experiment that may get the
green light for 2020, a lunar mission with serious follow on by being
part of the new space mining support system (comms and Navigation). I am
designing and building a serious space navigation system and helping
develop another and finally am being sort after by the Australian
defense sector. I speak at US space conferences and will be in the US
again in May to speak at 2 more. My company is building a global deep
space network with 3 x 30m dishes (one in California) and I will be also looking at buying 3 x 10m dishes while I am there.
All
this in only 2 years! I did it with social media, just like Romeo and
Camilla. Sure I had to have the “goods”, but the progress was social
media. I got it just right. The NASA social media experts do a good job
of guaranteeing a degree of success, but occasionally the odd person
hits the right note and beats the experts. You hit the wrong note with
this attack. A slam dunk for another “expert” who just failed to do a
good job in checking out the real story.
Like any dedicated
person bringing a dream to reality, Romeo and Camilla put untold hours
of their own time into this to make this happen.
I was there in
the early days helping with Camilla’s first balloon flight and recovery.
The whole world watched as they got stuck in an alligator filled swamp.
There was TV and radio across the world. The attached image is a
picture of the three mascots rescue in the swamp – dedicated fans did
this!!
The back story is what you should be writing about. If you
got this so wrong, how can I trust you on anything else that you write
from your “expert” throne on high?
NASA may have the odd gripe, but if that is the big issue, why are they funding his travels to do what they don’t want him to do. The story just seems wrong and contradictory. Yes, he may ask them to fund the manufacture of smething for safety on the ISS and they can say “no” – big deal, but the chicken will fly and kids around the world will be inspired. NASA knows what side their bread is buttered on. Romeo creates a conumdrum for NASA. Not official, but the best representative they have ever seen. A serious thing to consider and that is not always going to get the thumbs up from everyone in NASA. You’ve singled out a few that don’t like it.
Is that who I think it is in the Photo – tell it isn’t so…