Transcript
…Well, good luck with that, is all I can say.
Okay, while we’re waiting for the next call, just a reminder: This is Tom Barker, and you’re listening to the Nightly Bark, the only show that gives you the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the stinking truth about everything going on in spaceflight.
Right, our next caller is from… India! Not often you get an Earthling phoning in, but we appreciate it. Let’s hope the light-speed doesn’t screw ’em over. You’re on air!
— Uh… hi? Long time listener, first time caller. I’m actually with the flight control team at Isro, for the Varahamihara-2, and we were hoping you could send us some well-wishes for the mission to Comet Petrova.
Oh, boy. You want some well-wishes, huh?
— A little moon-joy, you know?
Let me ask you something. Why?
— …Why? Well, it’s, you know, a big step for scientific understanding, and…
You’re asking me to wish you well. For a comet. When if it wasn’t for your organisation’s dysfunction, we’d be investigating a potential fucking interstellar probe right now? Have I got all this right?
— I understand the frustration, but I’m just an engineer. We don’t really, you know, the — the politics of it isn’t our jobs.
You said you were calling on behalf of Isro, so I’m going to tell Isro — here’s what I think! I don’t care what fucking north-south-east-west political bullshit you’ve got going down on Earth. You don’t send up a space probe, leave it parked out for half a decade, specifically for interstellar objects, and then when one finally comes around, sit on your hands and go, “oh, sowwy, there’s no money, mummy and daddy are having an argu—”
[Staff member: You’re peaking.]
I’m peaking? Sorry about that. Look, the point is…
Oh, he hung up.