Astrophysicist discusses NASA

By: Andy Silva

Posted: 4/16/03

What would you like most: to have an asteroid named after you, be voted the sexiest astrophysicist alive or be the first person to receive a prestigious position at a planetarium? It is a difficult question, but one person can say they have all three of these.

Neil de Grasse Tyson, the Frederick P. Rose director of the Hayden Planetorium, has done all of the above and more in his career as an astrophysicist. According to his biography on amnh.org, Tyson studied physics at Harvard University and got his doctorate in astrophysics from Columbia University.

Tyson said having an asteroid named after him is pretty nice, with certain stipulations.

"It is very cool provided that it is not the kind that heads toward Earth," Tyson said. "There are like 13,000 asteroids, so it is not that rare a thing to have one named after you, but when it was announced I was still very excited."

Tyson has also written two books and been named the "sexiest astrophysicist alive" by People magazine in 2000. He said it is hard to pick which was more exciting for him.

"That is a toss up," Tyson said. "I put them about equal."

A doctorate in astrophysics was what drove Tyson to achieve. He said everything else beyond that has been great.

"My goal in life was a Ph.D. in astrophysics," Tyson said. "Everything after that has been fun. I do what feels right, I do what feels commensurate with my ability to perform."

Since the Columbia tragedy, Tyson said his job is relatively the same. He did say he now has different questions asked of him though.

"[It has not changed my job] much at all," Tyson said. "It has changed the things I talk about in public, but the nature of my job has not changed."

NASA is still currently investigating what went into the tragic events that led to the explosion of the Columbia space shuttle as it was flying over Texas. According to Tyson, it will take time to get back to the way it was.

"It does take a while to rebound, but in the past they have always rebounded," Tyson said.

All seven astronauts aboard the Columbia died while the shuttle disintegrated over Texas. According to Tyson, astronauts acknowledge the risk involved in space travel and being on the frontier.

"There is a part of us that deep down knows that when you are on this frontier you put your life at risk," Tyson said. "If someone dies it does not change our awareness of the frontier, because it is part of the nature of a frontier of discovery."

Despite this knowledge of danger, Tyson said he believes most astronauts would not rethink their vocation.

"The astronauts all know about this risk," Tyson said. "I bet if you polled all of [the astronauts], they would be on the next launch."

The tragedy is the first since the Challenger tragedy of 1986 in which the seven astronauts aboard the Challenger were killed when the shuttle exploded 73 seconds following lift off. According to Tyson, while these two events certainly stand out, people should also see how many times NASA missions have gone on without a hitch.

"Another way to look at it is how successful NASA has been," Tyson said. "So, you could take it as they have been 98 percent safe."

In both the Columbia and Challenger tragedies, the families of the astronauts were at Cape Canaveral. The families of the Columbia astronauts were waiting for the astronauts to return from their mission, while the families of the Challenger had just said goodbye less than two minutes before. Tyson said it can be difficult to watch.

"You feel the pain of the loved ones who were waiting at the Cape for the shuttle to arrive, and it never arrived," Tyson said. "The fact that it is shown in real time is more upsetting than it is when you learn about it after the fact."

There will be a great deal of pressure on NASA for their next mission to be a success, Tyson said. Safety, he said, and finding out what went wrong and fixing that problem are the highest priorities.

"I think that they are always striving for safety," Tyson said. "What people do not know is how much safety is in the system. I work closely enough with NASA to know that they put safety as the highest priority in all they do."

NASA created a special panel on Feb. 2 to investigate what went wrong with the Columbia shuttle and look for ways to prevent a similar tragedy from happening again. The panel's investigation is on-going, but according to the Associated Press, NASA knew two years prior to the Columbia tragedy that other shuttles had severe weakening of wing panels and even ordered an inspection to prevent this type of problem from affecting other shuttles. Tyson said he believes that the panel is doing a good job looking into the tragedy.

"I believe that [the panel] is doing all they can with the information available," Tyson said.

Despite the setbacks, Tyson said there are really only two boundaries for space travel.

"There are two types of boundaries," Tyson said. "One is technology and the other is physics. Humans can visit all the planets with advances in technology. It would be very costly if we did. In traveling to the stars, there is biology preventing it."