After a few backs and forth with a NASA flak, I finally got in touch with a scientist at the Ames Research Center.

I wanted to talk about water. And I wanted to talk to someone at NASA. NASA had announced (again?) evidence for liquid water flowing on Mars. Imagine having a job where you can explore Mars – another planet – and look for things there. It’s mind boggling and awesome in the seldom-used, actual meaning of the word.

Everyone was excited about this water. I was excited! But I wasn’t sure why.

Water is necessary for life. At least that’s what I’d heard. But I had no idea why. And I could only piece together vaguely anthropomorphic explanations from snippets of articles here and there. “All life on Earth requires water, ergo …”

There was something more to it, right? But I really wasn’t up to figuring this one out myself, so I reached out to a bunch of scientists to help me figure it out.

The first was a friend of mine, who I asked while moderately tipsy, way after my bedtime, at a bar in Baltimore. He did a good job explaining, I think, but I needed to try again with a clear head.

Enter NASA. I got a great explanation from a research scientist who studies, among other things, water and astrobiology.

He told me there was water everywhere, even in the sun – who knew?! And that the habitable zone that we hear so often about continues to expand to the point of being somewhat useless.  He told me  other things, too. Things you can read once someone picks up this pitch I’ve sent out.

But the most ridiculous thing he told me?

NASA was his second choice for a career.

When I wrap up interviews, I love to ask folks about their backgrounds. How they got where they were and, in this case, “How awesome is it to work for NASA?” Surely it was a lifelong dream? Did he love Star Trek? Did he want to go to space? Was he a stargazer?

None of the above. What he had really wanted to do after college was build cars.

“It’s funny,” he said. “Working at NASA you work with all of these people who, all they ever wanted to do was work here. It’s like a childhood dream come true.” But when he had graduated college, he had other dreams of grandeur.

It was the 80s. Everyone was driving foreign cars.

“Being somewhat patriotic,” he told me, “I said ‘I’m going to make the best American cars.'” He met with car companies and some other recruiters at a job fair. None of the car companies called back; he only heard back from one place.

And that’s how he wound up settling for NASA.

During his 25 years with the space agency, he’s won awards and published more than 100 peer-reviewed papers. It seemed to me that he was very much enjoying his career.

But I’ll never wrap my head around this one: working at NASA was someone’s second choice.