NASA Scientist

The NASA Scientist is a member of the NASA organization. He is concerned by the lack of popularity of space programing in the United States. Originally he considers revealing that the chimpanzees brought back from space had grown superintelligent, but the NASA Chimp vetoed this idea. Along with the NASA Representative, he determines by watching popular television shows that Americans most enjoy watching unintelligent buffoons, so he recruits common people (Homer Simpson and Barney Gumble) and trains them to become astronauts.

Barney grew quite skilled once the NASA Scientist forced him to refrain from drinking. By contrast, Homer was not particularly impressive in terms of his abilities. Originally Barney was selected to go into space, but when the NASA Scientist gave him non-alcoholic champagne which Barney assumed was alcoholic, he started acting out-of-control. Homer was thus selected to go into space.