Keith’s note: Playing with memes – prompted by other memes. Much of the what is being pumped out on social media by the Administration and its agencies seems to be more about bullying and less about inspiration.

Keith’s note: NASA likes to talk about all the wonderful ways that they do things that affect everyone and improve their lives. But how they do this is inconsistent with regard to large portions of our country and large sectors of society. And it is often out of date and regularly misses the point when it comes to what real people are thinking about in terms of their life’s priorities. This popped up in Congress today while Jared Isaacman was testifying. More below.

Keith’s note: I was only at NASA a short time in 1987 and was put on the Voyager Neptune “interstellar mission” status report distribution list (L). How cool. Nearly 40 years later I posted (R) about the one-light-day mark that will be reached a year from now. We’re actually heading to the stars – truly Ad Astra. No other nation has actually gone interstellar – and no one else will do so any time soon. It may be just a space nerd bench mark – but one would think that if NASA was going to hop on the ‘Make America Great In Space (Again)’ / ‘Keep America Great In Space’ bandwagon, they’d be looking for things NASA has accomplished like this – those with profound implications. We may be in a ‘race’ (back) to the Moon but no one is going to beat the U.S. into the cosmos any time soon. Oh yea there are two block buster movies coming out soon that deal with interstellar travel. Easy things to hang some outreach on – maybe even a teachable moment. Just sayin’.

Keith’s note: The politicos at White House and NASA were complaining about DEI (Diversity, Equality, Inclusion) in space exploration the other day. They seem to have missed the fact that it was the Trump 1.0 team who aded “first woman” to the NASA Artemis tagline. Oh well. You may recall that I mentioned an outrageous example in March 2025 of DEI-infused censorship at NASA: You Can Still Read NASA’s Deleted “First Woman” Graphic Novels. Two illustrated novels with “First Woman” in their titles featured two young girls, who happened to be brown skinned, yearning to become astronauts and explore the universe. Imagine what they could have become in future volumes of these stories with some of the new AI tools everyone now has access to. More below – including some animated AI examples.

Keith’s note: NASA’s budget is going to be slashed one way or another. Despite all the talk about making NASA more focused – or efficient – or “greater”, NASA science will suffer. Scores of missions will either be canceled, shutdown, or put on indefinite pause. Meanwhile Europe and our officially designated foe China surge ahead to fill gaps that we have created. NASA has yet to find the secret sauce wherein they can walk and chew gum at the same time. i.e. do astonishing things that no one has done before while conveying the scientific value of these accomplishments to decision makers and simultaneously, the practical, everyday utility to people and families as they try and make it through their daily lives. For what it is worth, as I have noted before: NASA has led space science and “Made America Great In Space” for more than half a century. Let’s not let that science leadership fade. Let’s expand it further. This won’t happen on its own. NASA must get its act together, find its mojo again, and put forth the multiple reasons why we should use and explore space – tailored to the various audiences who need – and deserve – to be informed. One size does not fit all. While NASA needs to learn how to explain itself to citizens and policymakers, how it explains its accomplishments on the global stage should be simple. Very simple – since NASA has led the way by:

• touching the sun
• visiting every planet in our solar system
• discovering over 6,000 planets orbiting other stars
• launched the first weather and Earth resource satellites
• sending humans to walk on another world
• doing the first offworld search for life
• moving an asteroid
• finding water on the Moon and Mars
• discovering oceans inside icy moons
• sailing across interstellar space
• peering back to the dawn of the universe
• developing a global brand that all nations aspire to

Keith’s note: You may recall that NASA has pushed a huge portion of its science and engineering workforce out the door. Now NASA Johnson Center director Vanessa Wyche wants to hire people as Interns (students). Internships are great – but they usually embody a chance to eventually land a permanent job at NASA. Given all the firings, that is not likely. But if you look at the work descriptions it sounds like the things that departed employees used to do albeit more cheaply. Oh yes, there is a typo in her LinkedIn post that says “pursing” which is defined as ‘puckering one’s lips to express disapproval or irritation instead’ of “pursuing”. Just sayin’.

Keith’s note: Cutting NASA Education and then doing a book reading – While the Administration seeks to end all funding for NASA’s education efforts – as if that somehow makes it all better. Who comes up with these ideas? NASA’s tweet: @NASA Tomorrow, Aug. 4, @SLOTUS Usha Vance will join astronaut Suni Williams at @NASAJohnson to read a space-related book to children. Submit questions at http://go.nasa.gov/4mqU0xZ and watch NASA+ starting at ~2:45pm ET to see if your question is selected: http://go.nasa.gov/45iyPqK

Keith’s note: NASA just issued a standard paperwork thing in the Federal Register today. It is a note about some questionnaire they want people to fill out egarding special NASA events that they went to. Sounds innocent enough and it is good that NASA would want feedback. Except NASA states that they are only worried about less than 0.01% of the American public and that they are going to spend more than one government employee’s annual hours looking at an expected 650 responses? What about looking into what the rest of the nation thinks about how ‘Great’ NASA is or should be? (more below)

Keith’s note: NASA is consolidating social media accounts (yes this was needed). The FY 2026 NASA Budget Request from the White House eliminates STEM funding, removes all public affairs staff at the field centers, cuts NASA HQ PAO staff, and reduces the overall communications and outreach budgets. And of course diversity, equity, and inclusion is now a forbidden concept. So where is the plan that NASA is following in order to do all of this? Is there a plan for this at NASA? Or does NASA just have a concept of a plan? One would assume that all of these dramatic changes to the public face of NASA are being done according to some overall guidance – yes? What follows are some random questions off the top of my head about the effective education and public outreach and engagement plan that the world’s pre-eminent space agency would need in order to continue to lead the way – and also expand that lead. Or maybe they don’t actually care to have a plan. Or know how. (More below)

Keith’s note: according to “What government programs should be slashed? NASA nears top of list, poll finds“ in the Miami Herald: “In the latest Marquette Law School Poll, 63% of respondents said they would be willing to reduce spending on NASA and its space program to shrink the federal budget deficit. Meanwhile, just 37% said they would not be willing to cut it. And just 5% said sending astronauts to Mars or back to the moon is a major priority, while 39% said this is important, but not a top concern. A majority, 56%, said it should not be a priority at all.” (deep sigh) NASA has touched the sun, visited every planet in our solar system, has spaceships traversing interstellar space, and has telescopes that look back toward the dawn of the universe – yet NASA Public Affairs and other communications and outreach efforts at the agency consistently fail to convey these awesome, exciting accomplishments to the public. Only NASA could make America’s unparalleled accomplishments in space exploration so boring that such a large portion of the public wants to cut space funding. Ad Astra y’all.