The head of NASA wants to trade

There is a reason you have never seen NASA astronauts strolling on a launching pad Armageddon-style wearing NASCAR-style outfits adorned with company logos while they boarded a multicolored space shuttle announcing the release of the upcoming Marvel movie (in other words, employees The government, especially the more visible ones, are not supposed to do that, but everything could be about to change if Jim Bridenstine, NASA's new administrator, succeeds in making his way.

Bridenstine recently met with advisors to discuss the creation of a new committee to expand NASA's sources of advertising and commercial revenue and suggested that the agency and its astronauts not be limited to Apollo celebrities. . . The former congressman, who was only confirmed in his new post about six months ago, wants to turn the astronauts and the agency they represent into a sort of domestic brand.

Apparently, being one of the most popular and revered government agencies is not enough for the new leader, who wants to look into the idea of ​​corporate sponsorship in the field that most countries have considered banned for the better half of the last century.

"I'd like to see kids growing up, instead of wanting to perhaps be like a professional sports star, I'd like them to grow up wanting to be NASA's astronaut or NASA scientist" said Bridenstine at a NASA conference. Advisory Council meeting. "I'd like to see, maybe someday, NASA astronauts on the cover of a box of cereals, integrated with American culture."

This is true. As if corporations did not have enough control over your life, instead of "Be like Mike," Bridenstine wants to usher in the era of "Be Like Astronaut Michael Hopkins."

It is true that NASA has renewed its presence in space thanks to a manned space flight program and invited newcomers such as SpaceX and Boeing to manage their shipments to and from the United States. International Space Station, a quid pro quo affair.

Of course, the biggest hurdles to overcome, even if this idea of ​​"space flight, presented by Verizon Wireless" is possible, are the laws and regulations that prevent (or are supposed to) government agencies and their officials from using their offices for profit.

In the 1980s, NASA reached an agreement with Coca-Cola to allow their astronauts to test a new Coke can in space. When Pepsi, his rival, got wind of the deal, they stepped up their efforts to design a space-conscious travel box and did a public show trying to beat the soda giant in the air. # 39; space. Afraid of the impression that the agency approved one product over the other, NASA quietly left the two companies to continue their development and finally sent the two cans of Coca-Cola and Pepsi into space without any fanfare.

Similarly, in the 1990s, NASA avoided being associated with brands by striving to ensure that M & Ms sent to ISS astronauts were nicknamed "candy coated chocolates". This allowed him to go under the radar of public opinion, which could consider shopping its iconic images and logos under the mission of virtue it had been created to defend.

Since its inception – NASA is 60 this year – the agency has resisted the corporate sponsorship attraction, even though it had to contend with a flat budget and lost some of the glamor and glamor of the company. program. days of Halcyon Apollo. And that may not seem like a big deal, until you realize that not having that kind of frills behind the agency can mean fewer reasons for Congress, especially for those who do not have it. have no JSC in their yard like Houston, to give a boost to the extra funds that could allow NASA to go somewhere and do something beyond the low Earth orbit. Enter the call of all this salable advertising space.

After all, companies love nothing more than throwing their money in shows that people will watch, and if companies start slapping their logos on spaceships, crew modules or space stations, NASA rights to their properties or the likeness of astronauts as a whole.

Even though Coca-Cola never happens to paint Orion's red Coke capsule before it falls on Mars or Moon or that the powers in place decide to send it, the NASA will need to consider more attractive marketing. to ensure that future generations, who know little about the agency outside its logo, wear clothes, which NASA did not, by the way, be interested in pursuing its mission.

However, some see the role of NASA as above what is happening here on Earth and want to keep the eyes of the agency on the path of navigation in the stars and beyond.

"It will be very difficult for NASA or any other government agency to position itself so that it can de facto endorse this product or product," said former NASA astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria. "For me, it's like nails on a board. This is not fair. "