I’ve got no clue how many people this will turn out to be, but I’ve heard a fair pile of corroboration.

I’ve wanted to work at NASA since I was six. That’s a common story at the agency - most folks have to work hard and make conscious decisions from high school on to get there. The folks I’ll be saying goodbye to on Tuesday are literally the best and brightest of their generation - people with brains and determination that chose to take worse pay and underfunded lab environments to serve their country and have arranged their whole lives to make that sacrifice possible.

I mourn for them, for the agency, and for the future they could have given us.