I sub­scribe to NASA’s press-release LISTSERV. This was the only thing in my inbox this morn­ing, so I had to read it twice to make sure I wasn’t dream­ing. It high­lights the real, dan­ger­ous prob­lem with the Amer­i­can space pro­gram: it is head­quar­tered in Texas.

Date: Wed, 20 Apr 2005 15:39:19 -0500
From: info@JSC.NASA.GOV
Sub­ject: ATTWATERS PRAIRIE CHICKENS MOVE TO NASA JSC
 
April 20, 2005
 
Linda Matthews-Schmidt
John­son Space Cen­ter, Hous­ton
281/483-5111
 
Brian Hill
Hous­ton Zoo
713/801-8040
 
Report #J05-017
 
ATTWATER'S PRAIRIE CHICKENS MOVE TO NASA JSC
 
Once there were about a mil­lion of them, but now fewer than 50 are left in the wild. Before long, some of the endan­gered Attwater's Prairie Chick­ens in the Hous­ton Zoo's breed­ing pro­gram will move to NASA's John­son Space Cen­ter.
 
Estab­lish­ment of a breed­ing facil­ity on about two acres of JSC land is part of a new agree­ment between the zoo and the space cen­ter. That agree­ment also sets aside about 10 acres of JSC land to grow euca­lyp­tus trees and other plants as food for zoo ani­mals.
 
"The JSC Team is excited about this part­ner­ship," said JSC Direc­tor Jef­fer­son D. How­ell, Jr. "Part of NASA's mis­sion is to under­stand and pro­tect our home planet, and we are happy to play a small part in pre­serv­ing the Attwater's Prairie Chicken population. . . ."