Bad Astronomy

Shuttle launch on June 8 still on despite potential workers strike

You may have heard that the next Shuttle launch is scheduled for Friday, June 8, at 7:38 p.m. Eastern time. You may not have heard that the United Space Alliance Space Shuttle workers may go on strike the day before the launch.

This won’t affect the launch, since these workers apparently don’t work on that aspect of the Shuttle (according to the artile linked above, they provide “various support services such as machinists, electric technicians, air-conditioning mechanics, painters and elevators technicians”). The rhetoric is standard: the union says the deal offered by USA is substandard, while USA says it’s fair, blah blah blah. I never trust press releases or quotations in matters such as these, and prefer to assume that everyone is being a jerk until evidence turns up otherwise. I guess I’ve had too much background in both labor and management – this isn’t science, where ideas get a fair shake, but PR, where people jockey for position and try to make themselves look good. A skeptical – nay, jaundiced – eye is required.

Anyway, STS 117 is go for launch on Friday, and I’ll blog about it when/if it happens, and I’ll use my Twitter page to live update it!