You probably aren't actually legally prohibited from leaving. But anyone in the command room leaving after such order is literally unthinkable. This conversation is just weird to me. To earn a spot in that room you absolutely must understand the importance of your job and your place in it, if an order is to stay in and document everything....that's what you do. Whether you could be legally prevented from leaving or not is literally irelevant, outside of some purely academic discussion that is completely pointless.
Agreed--I don't see how someone who has deeply imbibed a serious culture could wonder this. To try to leave on a technicality would be hugely embarrassing and forever mark that person as untrustworthy. Everyone in that room was eager to contribute to the success of future missions and reputation of NASA by making the disaster analysis as thorough and accurate as possible.
Yes, NASA's security officers can legally physically prevent you from leaving. Congress has granted them that power.
Go on law.cornell.edu and dig through the vast provisions of federal security officer power as it pertains to arrest, detainment, use of deadly force, etc.
The first reference ("Arrest authority") clearly states that to arrest someone, a NASA security officer (like any law enforcement officer) needs to have seen them commit an offense (crime). Unless you can point to a federal law that says deserting a civilian post at NASA is a federal offense, there would be no authority to arrest someone who does so. The worst you could do is fire them. (The most credible sounding crime I can think of that might apply here could be something like "obstructing a federal investigation".)
(3) The arresting officer has reasonable grounds to believe that the person to be arrested has committed or is committing any felony cognizable under the laws of the United States.
Therefore, if you try to leave after being ordered to stay, during a crisis situation, without a valid reason, you should expect to be arrested and further dealt with.
What federal law says that leaving Mission Control during a crisis is a felony? What law says that you must do what your boss tells you? Law enforcement officers have to enforce laws. They don't just get to decide that people should act in a particular way.
I don't suppose "leaving mission control" in contravention of an order to stay during a crisis is, in and of itself, a felony.
What you're likely to find is an issue is that the security guards at NASA can arrest, if the links above are correct, and you're likely to fund yourself in a predicament if you try to leave and they don't want you to.
I'd imagine working at NASA, and at least some other space launch companies, especially those that provided services to government and defence agencies, come with additional conditions beyond what one might expect stacking shelves at a supermarket.
Being told "you're not free to leave" is rightfully worrying to a lot of people. There are countries where hearing that would be terrifying. What makes the US different is the rule of law, due process, and individual liberties. Asking on what authority the government has to detain you should never be karmic suicide. There are many places where asking that question is truly unthinkable, and they're not places you want to live.
>>What makes the US different is the rule of law, due process, and individual liberties
That reads like complete sarcasm to me.
Anyway, like I said - to me this is on the same level as someone asking if an astronaut on the ISS is "free to leave" and how is this not a citizen's arrest and how somehow this constitutes an abuse of liberties.
This doesn't read like a serious question - more like something a very edgy 14 year old would ask and feel clever.
