Apropos of nothing:
In 2002 I worked for NASA, at Kennedy Space Center. My offices were shared between the O&C building and the SSPF. To give you some perspective, I walked through these doors:
...on a nearly daily basis.
Any file footage you've seen of American (or international guest) Astronauts boarding the van on their way to the launch pad involves walking out that door.
I did some (minor, I can assure you) work with the Columbia's last crew. At the time my thoughts were "Holy crap that's Ilan Ramon* and a bunch of other astronauts!"
Every day was an adventure. Every day, when I got up out of bed in Orlando at 4:45 and drove to facilities, I thought "Man this is great - I get to go to work!" Anyone from Central Florida who's slogged down 50 to 528 then over to US1 knows how un-fun that trip is. It was always an incredible journey for me. What awesome stuff would I get to do on a given day? I mean, I was just an "Office Automation specialist" (glorified PC tech), and many of my days there were spent roaming a farm of PCs as they automatically re-loaded their OSes for redeployment to other departments and employees...but I always felt like one of the team, and from management on down always told us we were a critical part of "the Mission".
Would the job have worn on me, had I worked there longer than I did? Maybe. All jobs eventually lose their shine, and work becomes just that, work. But for one brief, glorious period I was part of The Program, and neither myself nor any other contractors out there were ever made to forget it. Maybe, one day before I get
too much older and broken down I'll get the chance to go out there again, this time on a longer contract.
sic itur ad astra...
*=one of the Israeli pilots who flew the mission to destroy the
Osirak nuclear facility the Iraqis were building in the 80s.