Problem is most parents freak out. I was in an advanced Lit class and was introduced to Heinlein, Vonnegut, niven, EE Smith, and Ben Bova as writers and the sex scenes and outright violence in some of the books would have the moronic prude parents today suing everyone in sight for every reason.
In High School in 1964, my Senior English Literature class was instructed to read a passage in a Shakespeare play silently. Why? Because it contained the word "breast". I thought that was a bit much. Teachers then had the same issues to deal with.
Definitely the "worker bees". Case in point: My brother-in-law and his wife attended the recent launch of STS-120 as part of this program. He has been working for various NASA contractors for around thirty years at the NASA White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico, in various capacities from technician to engineer. Guys like him are the reason NASA gets things done, and NASA knows it. I have been working with computers and networking (IT) at the same facility since 1990 and would love to attend a launch, but with "only" seventeen years at the site, I do not qualify. And I would love to go. Others of my acquaintance have also attended; the two I'm thinking of in this case started in IT at the facility practically when it opened back in the 60's, during the investigation into the Apollo One fire. Of those, one has retired, the other still works there. FWIW, the colleague that is still there did not actually attend a launch; he and his wife went,however the launch was delayed, and he returned, most of the activities NOT having taken place, and did NOT get a second chance when the flight did go. Folk can draw their own conclusions as to whether or not the money invested to honor these non-managerial "worker bees" is invested well or not. I say "yes". But then, I know first hand who gets to go.
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Problem is most parents freak out. I was in an advanced Lit class and was introduced to Heinlein, Vonnegut, niven, EE Smith, and Ben Bova as writers and the sex scenes and outright violence in some of the books would have the moronic prude parents today suing everyone in sight for every reason.
In High School in 1964, my Senior English Literature class was instructed to read a passage in a Shakespeare play silently. Why? Because it contained the word "breast". I thought that was a bit much. Teachers then had the same issues to deal with.
Yah. Well keyed. If you want the answers to "why" questions, just follow the money...
Spouses. Spouses get to go with their "honoree". FWIW, one should note that many of the honorees are female.
Definitely the "worker bees". Case in point: My brother-in-law and his wife attended the recent launch of STS-120 as part of this program. He has been working for various NASA contractors for around thirty years at the NASA White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico, in various capacities from technician to engineer. Guys like him are the reason NASA gets things done, and NASA knows it. I have been working with computers and networking (IT) at the same facility since 1990 and would love to attend a launch, but with "only" seventeen years at the site, I do not qualify. And I would love to go. Others of my acquaintance have also attended; the two I'm thinking of in this case started in IT at the facility practically when it opened back in the 60's, during the investigation into the Apollo One fire. Of those, one has retired, the other still works there. FWIW, the colleague that is still there did not actually attend a launch; he and his wife went,however the launch was delayed, and he returned, most of the activities NOT having taken place, and did NOT get a second chance when the flight did go. Folk can draw their own conclusions as to whether or not the money invested to honor these non-managerial "worker bees" is invested well or not. I say "yes". But then, I know first hand who gets to go.