[frederick-thurber Posts: 157 Status: Offline Natural history with a humorous twist WWW]

Has anyone had any experience talking  NASA employees?  I want to interview some employees (not astronauts) and get some quotes, but apparently they cannot talk to me without the permission from the NASA P/R department.   Has anyone gone through this process?

I also want to talk to an astronaut at the European Space Agency, but I do not know where to begin.

[Debbie Vilardi Posts: 7,013 Status: Offline Language is so cool! WWW]

Because much of what happens at NASA is classified, it does not surprise me that they can't speak to you without permission. My son did an internship with a government contractor this fall. He did all data entry for them. That's pretty much all he could say about it. He wasn't even 18 yet, but he had a security clearance and wasn't permitted to tell his mother anything but adding items to a spreadsheet and the names of the people he reported too. It was pretty funny.

You will need to go through proper channels for both agencies. (Start with the PR department for ESA---maybe via a LinkedIn search.) And you may not get permission. Good luck.

[frederick-thurber Posts: 157 Status: Offline Natural history with a humorous twist WWW]

I do have security clearance; maybe that will help, although my book has nothing to do with anything secret.  Quite the opposite.

I did make an inquiry with a NASA P/R person, but all I have gotten so far is crickets.  Their bureaucracy must be huge; hopefully my request has not ended up in their equivalent of the slush pile.

[dewsanddamps Posts: 2,304 Status: Offline]

Frederick, you should call them. Be sure to contact the correct facility for what you want.

And be warned--everybody at NASA is lovely and helpful except for the spokesperson at JPL, who is an utter ass and will absolutely not answer questions--even though it's his job. If you need to talk to anybody at JPL you're going to need a workaround.

[RebeccaL-G Posts: 1,496 Status: Offline RA SCBWI Cen-Cal WWW]

Children's author Kirsten Larson is a former NASA employee. You might try reaching out to her. https://kirsten-w-larson.com/about-kirsten/

[lrzajac Posts: 87 Status: Offline I write science as a story, sprinkled with art WWW]

NASA probably has a public relations department that handles communication with journalists. They may be able to put you in touch with someone who can answer your questions. Employees may be permitted from speaking due to security clearances. When my daughter worked there for about 6 months as a consultant, I joked with her, "So, tell us all the things you're not supposed to talk about."  Silence😂.