Which Astronaut Space was Fired or Resigned for Theft? I just came across this Gizmo article about an astronaut that was either fired or resigned for a December 2016 theft case, where the astronaut space filed false claims for over $1,500 in taxi cab rides. First, how dumb was that, he gets the greatest job on earth and blows it for money. However, if I were writing this article here is what I would have asked NASA, First the writer states that the U.S. Attorney declined the case. Sure he did, from a Federal perspective it is unimportant and it was probably more important to them to keep NASA happy, an agency that did not want to get embarrassed by this. However as a NASA OIG Senior Special Agent at JSC I would have taken that declination and gone over to the local District Attorney who would have been happy to take a theft case of that magnitude together with a confession.
Note: I refiled cases with the state so I know it can be done. So my first question is why wasn’t it brought to the DA’s office? By the way, it may still be a viable case and could still be prosecuted depending on when the last claim was submitted and paid. Second, NASA did not give the reporter the Astronauts name, how could this be? Because there is at least a 2 year statute of limitations and they could justify it by claiming it was still an open case, so how do you get his name? Go to NASA Public Affairs and get a list of all the Astronauts in November of 2016 and February 2017, the mystery astronauts will have been there in November but not February, and NASA could not justify not sharing the names because of an open case.
Despite his numerous interests in different professions evident in his response to the question of ‘what he would like to become?’ (Doctor, Civil Engineer, Astronaut Space , Physicist, whatever sounds nice in his mind when he wakes up), some interests like Space exploration tend to be consistent these days…And so I have been learning along…To satisfy those interests, we have been going on planetarium visits to have a look at the planets and some stars through telescopes(appreciating God’s creation all the more) and attended a JAXA event. He also wanted to dress up like an Astronaut Space …Whilst this is not just a sightseeing experience, he is already familiar with the positions of the planets, those that are dwarf and a lot more about the solar system…