The folks who made sure to scatter NASA sites across the sun belt ended up being prescient. I mean, proximity to the ocean and the equator was part of it too of course, but does NASA survive the Trump Mk.II missile without politicians in Houston, Canaveral, and Huntsville quietly sanding down the edges of the anti-science agenda so they can have a pork dinner?
Which reminds me, the new season of For All Mankind is fun. Personally, I think
spoiler
Dev knows about the automation plan but is specifically trying to get Mera green-lit in time to keep everybody on Mars.