KSC apparently has told its workers they’ll be fired for taking rocket photos

Enlarge / In 2011, media representatives vie for the best positions for their camera tripods at Press Site 1 near Space Launch Complex 17B on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. (credit: NASA)

NASA appears to be clamping down on the public sharing of images and videos taken by its employees at Kennedy Space Center, a location known for its wealth of opportunities to photograph spacecraft under construction, as well as rocket tests and launches.

On Monday, a software engineer and amateur photographer at Kennedy Space Center named K. Scott Piel expressed his frustration with the new policy on Twitter, saying: “From this point forward, employees are no longer permitted to photograph or share images from *any* operations at KSC without authorization. Regardless of source. Photographing, or sharing images, from operations is grounds for termination. *Only* authorized media may do so.”

Whether these restrictions represent a new policy or the enforcement of an existing regulation is not clear. A woman who answered the media hotline at KSC asked for a screenshot of the tweet and seemed to be familiar with the issue, but she would not offer any substantive comment on the matter. She also said she was not sure whether the center’s press office would be commenting at all.