14 DAY TRIAL // These days, NASA's website is pretty easy to navigate. One click here, another one there, and folks have instant access to the latest news on what the space agency has been up to lately and what missions it plans to launch in the near future.
A little over a decade ago, however, NASA's website was rather cluttered and chaotic. In fact, only a few chosen ones - and by this we mean actual scientists - could explore it without feeling utterly and completely confused.
It was Tom Cruise who saved the day
During a recent panel discussion at the Washington, DC-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, Sean O'Keefe, NASA administrator between the years 2001 and 2004, gave a rundown of how and why the space agency first decided to work on making its website a tad more user-friendly.
As it turns out, it was none other than actor Tom Cruise who, during a visit to NASA's offices, dared complain to the space agency about what a lousy job it had done designing its website.
“He told me, ‘You've got this great website with tons of information on it and it's perfectly designed for a lot of research faculty across the globe, I guess, that is going to be of interest to them,’” Sean O'Keefe remembers this little chat he had with Tom Cruise over a decade ago.
“But to the rest of us it's three clicks to oblivion and you go the next thing and you find yourself nowhere,” Sean O'Keefe says the actor complained about what NASA's website looked like back then.
Tom Cruise even helped with the redesign work
According to former NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe, actor Tom Cruise didn't simply signal this problem and then let the space agency rack its brains trying to come up with a solution. Truth be told, that wouldn't have been a very nice thing to do.
Instead, he sent one of the guys making his movie trailers to NASA's headquarters. Working closely with scientists at the space agency, Tom Cruise' tech head made NASA's website a whole lot more appealing and laypeople-friendly. For this, the space agency is forever grateful.
