Nelson Mandela
Message from the NASA Administrator: The Passing of Nelson Mandela
“Yesterday, one of the brightest stars ever to shine upon planet Earth departed our galaxy with the passing of former South African President, Nelson Mandela. A man of incomparable strength, wisdom, and compassion who has been a personal inspiration for me for many years, Mandela accomplished one of the most remarkable feats in human history when he emerged after 27 years as a political prisoner in 1990 to free South Africa from the clutches of apartheid and lead its peaceful transition to non-racial democracy.”
A truly Great man!!!
Yes, Mandela was a great man. But WHY does that matter to NASA? There are lots of great human beings that pass without mention by the NASA administrator. My reaction to the Administrators’ statement was to wonder what Mandela did for space exploration and exploitation?
Well, he made it possible for many millions of people. and possibly billions in the future, to have the opportunities that we enjoy every day, and those that the future will bring, including opportunities in and/or involving space.
Al, I am with you on this one.
Al Vacada
What did Mandela do for space exploration or exploitation??
I would also ask what stops us from doing space exploration or exploitation??
I think its what I call our tribalism, our natural tendency to look out for our own family or group at the expense of others.
Tribalism is responsible for:
class warfare, the rich taking advantage of the poor.
racism, people not respecting and treating fairly others that are different than themselves.
Nationalism. Our tendency to form organised groups governments to protect and acquire resources from other groups which of course leads to wars. Doesn’t DOD and wars eat up resources that could be used to settle space?
Doesn’t the the fact that congressmen and senator’s divert funds/resources to their little group state at the expense of the good of all directly hinder us from exploring and exploiting the solar system?
And if we do learn to exploit the unlimited resources of outer space, would it be for benifit of all?? Would man suddenly share this bounty among all groups???
Well their are few people on this planet who have battled the down side of our natural tribalism like Nelson Mandella and I think if not for people like him there is little hope for human kind regardless of how many resources we one day exploit from space.
Bravo! George. Very well said indeed.
Mandela understood that the quality life, for a person or a planet full of people, revolves around how we treat one another, every day. Without a minimum level quality of life, things like space exploring and exploiting would simply never come to be, because they require sustained cooperation and common goals. They require good relationships.
Nelson Mandela was everything that Rep Frank Wolf will never be.
It doesn’t really matter. Mandela was a great human being, one of the few on the list of great human beings, who invested his life in bettering the lots of other humans and did so without a hidden agenda or dreams of personal gain.
It’s a really sad, pathetic world if the NASA administrator cannot reflect on such a great man. It’s doubly sad when you consider that humans of the world have at times have celebrated NASA’s accomplishments even though those humans may have had zero connection to any space program. It’s sad, bordering on pathetic, to presume that the NASA administrator can’t comment on the passing of such a great man when others in the world with zero connection to our space program and zero connection to the US have mourned and given tribute when astronauts have died.
If we can’t allow people like the NASA administrator to comment on behalf of NASA on the passing of a great human being like Mandela, then we truly are a petty and unworthy lot.
Though Bolden’s statement is off topic and really out of place in the context of NASA, Charlie might learn something from Mandela’s example. Mandela never lost hope. He made sure his people did not lose hope. Bolden, on the other hand, as evidenced by his recent statements about flagship missions and planetary exploration is a defeatist. Bolden has capitulated without a fight. He fails to make his case on behalf of his people or the program before the President, or Congress, or the American public. In fact from his public statements I wonder if he even feels space is something he needs to defend and make a statement in support of. As a NASA Administrator, as a General, or as a Marine, he has to be one of the worst examples of a leader we have ever seen.
I hope Charlie did not use my tax payer resources to pen this. Why is this man still breathing our oxygen? Well at least Lori finally found the door. I guess I/We should be glad of that.
A man can change and he did. So if you “read a little history” you would know that Mandela was democratically elected by his compatriots and spoke of peaceful pursuits – among which civilian spaceflight is (I would think). Perhaps if there were more world leaders of his caliber then we wouldn’t harbor desires to colonize other worlds.
Mandela did chat with Mark Shuttleworth, the first South African in space, whilst on board the ISS in 2002. Even paid tribute to him http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fab... (and he wasn’t even president).
What did Mandela contribute to NASA or Space Exploration in general? I asked myself a different question. How could a black man in South Africa born 1918 into an institution that denied him whats considered today “human rights” contribute in any way to humanity? Well he did and overwhelmingly changed that region. Also, since he was incarcerated for 27 yrs and was in prison when Armstrong made those first historic steps, I wonder if he was even told by his captors that humans had made it to the moon? Nevertheless, I think he represented the best of us and shared in the dream of working for “All Mankind”.
Winning a revolution against oppression and then guiding a nation toward sustainable democracy and reconciliation rather than the more common descent into tyranny and revenge is a rare gift, and one worth recognizing, for all of us.
I think Charlie wrote a very poorly worded message. Charlie could have used the example of Mandela to encourage at-risk youth to over some their difficulties and to suggest one person, regardless of background, could make a difference for everyone on the planet. He could have pointed out that Mandela demonstrated that even “failures” can be overcome and great difficulties turned into triumphs. He should have sent a message to minority youth to attempt hard STEM careers and point out that the International Space Space Station shows the importance coming together, despite past differences, to improve life for all humanity, as Mandela attempted to do.
That said, I wonder if Charlie sends a memorial message to the families of NASA employees or retirees when they pass? If he does not, perhaps this message about Mandela is less appropriate
Shuttlepuppy, I am not sure if any NASA administrator has an email distribution list for Americas ‘Minority Youth”. So I think your suggestion “of sending a message” is not grounded in reality. Nevertheless, I think his “high visibility” role at NASA sends that message that you describe. He seems to talk openly about his life. Such as living in America in an era where racism was institutionalized and tolerated by those elected to lead. He talks about serving his country in combat as a Marine Aviator to support America’s mission to provide “Freedom and Democracy” in South Vietnam while simultaneously his home town in South Carolina was still segregated. Despite living in that environment he was able to make it through the Naval Academy, the War in Vietnam and later NASA as an Astronaut then its Administrator. In fact, I cannot think of a better role model to depict a message to “pursue your dreams” to those “minority youth’s” you described.