Wording I find curious...

[alexpgp]

From the most recent "Message from the Administrator" received from NASA:

Today, we mourn the loss of a great former NASA leader, and my personal friend, Roy Estess. Roy was well-known and respected throughout the NASA family. He came from an era when NASA engaged the imagination and hope of the world, a time when our leaders transformed our deepest aspirations into reality. In that same spirit, I ask all who knew Roy to celebrate his many accomplishments and the hopefulness for the future that was his legacy to everyone. [Emphasis mine.]

Does anyone else find the wording of the sentence I've italicized a bit strange, as if to say that the era referred to - and what it embodied - is wholly in the past?

Cheers...

Comments

[bandicoot.livejournal.com]

I'm sure the feeling is pretty widespread. He's just open about it. The words of a short-timer.

[alexpgp.livejournal.com]

Shall we start a pool?

Cheers...

[platofish.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I think its accurate.... but, perhaps not appropriate in the context of an obituary? Otherwise, I don't find it strange.

[alexpgp.livejournal.com]

It occurs to me that I didn't explain myself very well at all. What I meant (and have since changed the post to read) is "strange, as if to say that the era referred to - and what it embodied - is wholly in the past?"

Cheers...

[platofish.livejournal.com]

Thats pretty much how I interpreted your original post. And yes, I'd have to agree with the statement - these days, the agency doesn't do much to capture the public's imagination. Not compared to the days of the 'space race'.

[egofood.livejournal.com]

The 1960's and 1970's: NASA one of the few government agencies universally loved, kids with space-themed lunchboxes and dressing up as astronauts for Halloween

Reagan: Challenger disaster
Bush 41: Um, let's go to Mars!
Clinton: Mmm, Yeoman Rand...
Bush 43: Hey, how about going to the Moon!
Obama: Scrap all your programs. Oh, and land on an asteroid.

[furzicle.livejournal.com]

Judging by the comments of my Republican, lifetime NRA member, former Marine son, there's a lot of mistrust of the present administration in some quarters. I think it sounds like that quarter is speaking in this obituary.

But I think we all know that it is true that the real steam has been let out of the space program. It may still be going on, but certainly without the Hollywood glamour it used to have.

Let's just hope that funding for scientific endeavors does not dry up.

[alexpgp.livejournal.com]

I agree, and what makes such a conclusion all the more... curious, for me, is that Charlie Bolden has previously staunchly (and consistently) defended the Administration's position vis-à-vis NASA's apparent new direction.

Of course, I strongly doubt Bolden actually writes all the stuff that's sent out under his name (agency heads have bigger fish to fry), so I'm wondering: Might we reading the (poorly proofread) thoughts of an underling?

Cheers...