When I was little I wanted nothing more than to be an astronaut. I had glow in the dark stars on my ceiling, a teddy bear named “Cub Canabearal” who wore a space suit, and more than anything I wanted to go to Space Camp. While we lived in Cullman, AL when I was in first grade, we took a trip up to Huntsville to go to the US Space and Rocket Center, the home of Space Camp. I can remember staring wild-eyed at the life-size Space Shuttle, getting vertigo during an IMAX movie, and queasy on the centrifuge. We walked by the area where Space Camp-ers were housed and I can remember wishing so much that I would get to go someday.

A few years later I learned that there was a height limit for astronauts of around six feet. Apparently the suits they wear aren’t one-size-fits-all. My dad is 6’5″ so I knew the chances of my coming in under 6 feet were slim. Whether or not that restriction was true, it was the first time I can remember ever thinking that my dream of being an astronaut ever seemed less than certain and I remember feeling really upset about it.

Eventually I got over it and moved on. I never went to Space Camp.

That little kid who wanted to be an astronaut didn’t die completely, though, and I never lost my interest in NASA and space travel. I have to admit that a few years ago as my wife and I were deciding whether to move to Birmingham, AL or Huntsville, a part of me leaned toward Huntsville for no other reason than that it meant some likelihood that I could work for NASA. Even if I didn’t get a job with NASA, I’d at least be able to drive by the Space and Rocket Center regularly and see the giant Saturn V rocket from the highway. Childish, maybe, but it’s the truth.

When I got a job working for NASA as a contractor in 2006 I was more than a little excited. I have a badge that says that I work for NASA! I have a desk at the Marshall Space Flight Center! My email address ends in “nasa.gov”. How cool is that?! Even though I don’t travel into space, the experience has still been the realization of a childhood dream.

For those of you who might not know, NASA’s been underfunded in recent years, and the President’s current proposed budget calls for the termination of the program I work for. It’s far from a done deal but it has many people (at NASA and elsewhere) worried about the future of the agency. The video below is of Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson, an astrophysicist and excellent speaker responding to a student’s question after a recent lecture at the University of Buffalo.

Given the remarkable clarity and expert delivery of his answer, it amazes me to think that Dr. Tyson is answering this question on the spur of the moment. I hope to be able to speak as eloquently in an impromptu setting some day. But what’s more impressive to me is that Dr. Tyson realizes that there are very real, very human, and emotional elements (to NASA, but to so many other things, too) that get lost when we only think about our immediate problems.