"If you want to work on something as complex, massive, multidisciplinary, and grand as, for example, the space shuttle, small companies aren't an option. Sure, you might be called upon to learn fortran, and there will be underperformers and politics. But the engineering challenges can be mind-blowing anyway."

Or you could work for a small company like SpaceX and work towards making NASA obsolete. The same engineering challenges without all the bureaucracy.