News from the White House:

The Sequester's recent cuts on NASA's spending in public outreach and its STEM programs must not be allowed. These cuts would end the many programs NASA has for educating the children of our society, as well as many other forms of public outreach held by NASA.

In an internal memo issued on the evening of Friday, March 22, the Administration notes that “effective immediately, all education and public outreach activities should be suspended, pending further review. In terms of scope, this includes all public engagement and outreach events, programs, activities, and products developed and implemented by Headquarters, Mission Directorates, and Centers across the Agency, including all education and public outreach efforts conducted by programs and projects.”

First things first, please sign the petition to repeal the NASA education sequester cuts at:

http://wh.gov/suf6

Second: Please share! 90,000 more signatures are required to get an official response to the petition. But more than that, it’s about educating, and spreading the word.

In 2009 at the SDO (Solar Dynamics Observatory) launch at Kennedy Space Center

I realize that this is a very multifaceted argument. Having worked briefly (several times, doing very different things) doing NASA Education and Public Outreach work, I’ve seen first hand the difference it can make. I’ve also had the opportunity to work with several very inspiring educators, who work impossibly hard to reach out to as many people across the country and the globe, and to make science fun. Having just a little exposure to science can dramatically change the way a child perceives the world. It encourages natural curiosity, it puts you in a different frame of mind, allowing you to question the world around you, and makes life about learning. I know that it has changed a lot for me.

In Morocco, looking at the sun through solar filters. Some sun spots, filaments and solar flares are visible to the naked eye. Although the sun looks yellow through the glasses, it's actually white.

Thank you for helping promote this cause!

National Astronaut Superstar Agency: A Poem

National
Astronaut
Superstar
Agency

When I was young I used to think that's what it stood for.

Because as a kid it seems to be all about the tv screens,
and the in style jeans,
and what that kid said to you in school,
and if they think you're not cool.

Some days it feels like the sky is gonna fall on you.
Because you're stuck on this tiny rock we call home.
The earth beneath us is spinning and spinning,
but it’s almost like we’re moving... nowhere.

But then there are the people who escape this shell, the astronauts
Researchers, Pioneers, Explorers
And behind them are the people working tirelessly to bring it all to us
The teachers who show us that we can look out instead of down
Who suggest that we think “out of the globe”
who teach us to see the sky with a different eye
and help us re-learn that science is amazing,
it’s just that our schools have sucked it dry.
It’s from them that I learned that humanity
we’re just an insignificant speck being hurled around the galaxy.
But we can choose to be more than that.
They tell us that

the science only increases the beauty.
They tell us that

You? You are made of stars.
And with each breath you take,
you breathe in the air of every brilliant mind that has come before you.
And the static on your television?
It's called cosmic background radiation,
and you’re watching the beginning of our universe
And did you know that you can calculate the speed of light using a ruler, a plate of marshmallows and a microwave?
And pulled apart, you're just a pile of atoms, a pile of dust that comes together to form this miracle we call consciousness.

Human consciousness, defined as 'awareness of oneself and the world.'
It means we appreciate life.
It means that we're aware of our actions.
It means that we can improve things.
So why isn’t that what we’re doing?
With our money draining, and resources dwindling,
we should be looking towards the future.

Our government’s budget cuts are chopping off the chances to change how we see the world, even if it’s just for one little boy or girl.
Now we need to create the passion that will help save us in the future.
And the work of educators is to innovate, to invigorate, to inspire
outreach is built to spread that curiosity like fire
Because science is more than just an isolated subject
To be sterilely studied in class.
Answer the question, fill in the bubble.

Human consciousness.

It stems from the intriguingly intricate assembly of atoms that form our brains, that let us learn

Is that learning not what we should strive for?

The children of today are the scientists of tomorrow.
They’re the engineers, astronauts, and most importantly, the dreamers
They just don't know it yet.
And without NASA’s brilliant education programs, they may never figure it out.
So we need the questions in their eyes,
the curiosity in their strongly gripped pencils,
hands flying in the air, frantic calculations,
the excited shouts when they design that perfectly aerodynamic paper airplane.

Somewhere, across the country,
a NASA public educator launched a model rocket,
and with it, the next generation of explorers.

Looking at the sun through a solar scope