Musgrave, who has flown in space six times, said he decided to leave the agency when NASA confirmed last week that he would not fly on another shuttle mission. NASA officials defended their decision to ground Musgrave, noting that over 50 current astronauts have yet to fly a single mission. Musgrave said he's looking at ways to communicate the space experience to the public.
Space needs to get turned into art, it needs to be communicated, it needs to be expressed.
The Pioneer 10 spacecraft, which turns 25 next month, performed a maneuver in late January to keep its antenna oriented towards Earth. With little power left in the spacecraft, the radio transmitter had to be turned off during the 90-minute maneuver. The spacecraft, operating in the dark, successfully completed the maneuver and the transmitter worked again after turning back on. He encouraged continued exploration of the universe.