Comic-Con isn’t just about geeks and science fiction. Nowadays, it’s also about the real life science behind our favorite science fiction. This year, for the first time, there was a panel about NASA and the things that have been happening and are planned for the future. The panel was in a room that could hold 1,000 people, and it was completely filled, with approximately 1,000 more people waiting outside who wanted to get in. Hopefully next year, there will be another NASA panel in a bigger room! (This will probably be the case, as a few Comic-Con staffers were in the press room with the rest of us and seemed very interested in having them all back again.)
One of the other benefits to the NASA panel was that it was hosted by Seth Green and featured Buzz Aldrin alongside Commander Mike Fincke, Dr. Jim Green, and Bobak Ferdowsi. Most people know who Seth and Buzz are, and would probably recognize Bobak Ferdowsi due to his being the director of the Mars Curiosity mission (and the star of the infamous “Mohawk Guy” meme – see below). Bobak is an engineer and loves his work.
Commander Fincke may be less known to the general public, but he’s an astronaut with many hours of logged space-walking time, as well as hundreds of hours of missions in space. He also is very well informed about being in space, what NASA plans to do next, and how it plans to do it.
Dr. Jim Green is NASA’s Division Director of Planetary Science. He, like most Comic-Con goers, is a huge geek whose passion had lead him to a career that he obviously couldn’t love more. He knows his science and his science fiction, and in one of my favorite moments in the press room, he reminded everyone that the reason we have cell phones nowadays is because of the communicators that were used in Star Trek. Another favorite moment of mine was when Dr. Green and one of the other members of the press joked around about hoverboards.
A lot was said in the press room, but you can take a listen to what was said and enjoy it for yourself!
Did you get to see the NASA panel at Comic-Con? Did you love it? Let us know in the comments!
