Dreaming of space, imagining membership: The work conduct of heroes

Abstract

Space exploration work occupies a unique place in popular culture and consciousness. Popular media representations have long been acknowledged as sources of inspiration leading to membership in space exploration organizations like the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.This article considers how popular media representations of space exploration work shape the conduct of work inside a space exploration organization. Using ethnographic data collected on NASA’s Mars Exploration Rovers mission 2003, this article examines mission members’ responses to time management whereby members tended to individualize breakdowns that were necessarily a result of inadequate work support provided by the organizational infrastructure. This article uses Goffman’s (1963) theory of stigma management to explain member response to deal with breakdowns without formally notifying the organization as an effort to maintain a particular identity, one that had long been dreamed of and constituted by media representations of space exploration work and membership identity.