Author Topic: Who should be the next NASA Administrator?  (Read 310892 times)

Offline jongoff

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Re: Who should be the next NASA Administrator?
« Reply #40 on: 03/01/2016 02:16 am »
Thanks for making my point before I had to.

Leading a major government agency requires someone who knows how to get things done in Washington.  How to work within an administration (where space will likely not even be on the list of things to do worry about). 

Negotiations with OMB and EOP are absolutely critical and require hard work, creativity, and more than little political skill.

Working with Congressmen, Senators, and their staffers is an exacting skill.  Without understanding what is going on a novice administrator could be used as a pawn in a bigger political game.

We need a great administrator like James Webb.  Someone who knows how to get resources, how to get Presidential attention, and someone who can organize and motivate the troops in the agency to all march to the same goal.

These are real leadership requirements and hopefully the next administrator will have them.

Wayne,

Great points. Do you know anyone you would recommend as fitting that description?

~Jon

Offline Robotbeat

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Re: Who should be the next NASA Administrator?
« Reply #41 on: 03/01/2016 02:25 am »
Elon Musk.
...
I'd hate to make him take that job. I like Elon Musk too much to do that to him.
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Offline MATTBLAK

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Re: Who should be the next NASA Administrator?
« Reply #42 on: 03/01/2016 05:13 am »
Elon wouldn't do it and he doesn't have to. He's got ambitious plans and even if they end up being 5 to 10 years behind schedule, it's still a lot better than the slow crawl we've been on in recent years. By several accounts I've heard, Charlie Bolden didn't really want the job either! He's done an okay job, considering how much he's been messed around politically. Lori Garver would be okay IF she's got a Vision or plan that is so cunning, you could put a tail on it and call it a weasel (look up 'Blackadder' if you don't get the reference).

Pete Worden has been mentioned but he doesn't seem keen. I still think Mike Griffin would be fine, but only if he curbed some of his grandiose mega-Pork/rocket tendencies and was more pragmatic than last time. Though, meh - I wouldn't hold my breath.

But to any Administrator who inherits or champions SLS: if SLS does end up being built and used and all that expensive hardware ends up being thrown away with every $2 billion launch - then make it count!! Don't mess with Mr In-Between; go for the most powerful boosters and Upper Stage engines you can get out of the gate and uprate the RS-25s till they cry Uncle. If you're only going to launch 2 or 3 times a year at most - make sure it's 150 tons into LEO or 50+plus tons thrown to Earth Escape, not a relatively tiddly 70 tons and 20 tons Escape. And don't be squeamish about using Commercial launchers to augment the tonnage sent uphill. And I say to any upcoming NASA Administrator - don't be afraid to utter the 'M' word. No; not Mars - the Moon. Mars is an unfunded fantasy at this point, a $200 billion or $1 Trillion (depends who you ask) boondoggle that Politicians and Taxpayers are too squeamish to touch.

It's time we all admitted this fact to ourselves. Mastery of Cilsunar space is where the action is. After all; mankind is only a few short years from mastering Low Earth Orbit completely with a Chinese space station and future Commercial stations and transport systems. The next frontier after that is the Moon and nearby to it. The existing International launch fleet can reach it, the U.S. Vulcan and Falcons can reach it and with deep enough pockets to sustain it's existance, the SLS can throw serious tonnage at our nearest neighbor. But existing rockets with reusable stages and propellant depots can open up Cislunar space and would be good enough. For less than the cost and schedule of the ISS, an International coalition similar to that which forged ISS can succeed - even if economies have wobbles sometimes. The Antarctic status quo would provide some good models to emulate. The Moon not as a 'colony' but as a place where one or more Outposts can explore multi-disciplines of science and perfect the kind of technologies that would be more than useful for Mars - they would be crucial.

Who's got the guts and the cajones to do this? Eh?
« Last Edit: 03/01/2016 05:16 am by MATTBLAK »
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Online woods170

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Re: Who should be the next NASA Administrator?
« Reply #43 on: 03/01/2016 06:07 am »
Here's how Wayne thinks about becoming NASA Administrator:

Quote from: Wayne Hale
waynehale says:   
November 7, 2015 at 2:52 pm   

Oh heavens no. I am particularly unsuited and ill prepared for what the Administrator has to do to make NASA successful. Working successful inside the beltway requires many skills that I lack. Thank you for the kind thought but lets just drop that idea.
James Webb, when asked by the JFK administration to head  NASA, told them "I don't believe this is a job for me".

 - Ed Kyle 
Straight from Wayne himself:
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=39678.msg1497858#msg1497858

Offline JohnFornaro

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Re: Who should be the next NASA Administrator?
« Reply #44 on: 03/01/2016 12:27 pm »
Squyres
« Last Edit: 03/01/2016 12:31 pm by JohnFornaro »
Sometimes I just flat out don't get it.

Offline Rocket Science

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Re: Who should be the next NASA Administrator?
« Reply #45 on: 03/03/2016 12:24 pm »
Scott Kelly: Folks know him a lot more now and I don't see him flying again for a long time, if ever again.
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Offline vulture4

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Re: Who should be the next NASA Administrator?
« Reply #46 on: 03/05/2016 02:48 am »
Lori Garver
Kathryn Sullivan
Steve Squires

I think any of the three could do the job. I am impressed with Sullivan's willingness to stand up to Congress.

Offline Proponent

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Re: Who should be the next NASA Administrator?
« Reply #47 on: 03/15/2016 02:09 pm »
Has anybody watched any of the sessions of this year's Goddard Symposium (program attached)?  If you listen to the panel discussion entitled "Evolution of a Space Policy: How to Achieve Consensus" (about 30 minutes into this video video below), you'll hear Lori Garver giving her views on how space policy has developed.  She is quite blunt.  I doubt that she would be so blunt if she were interested in becoming administrator.
« Last Edit: 03/15/2016 02:17 pm by Proponent »

Offline The Amazing Catstronaut

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Re: Who should be the next NASA Administrator?
« Reply #48 on: 03/15/2016 08:02 pm »
Lori. She's a competent individual who seems good at adapting to fresh political circumstances. That's a fair chunk of what the administrator of NASA has to do.
« Last Edit: 03/15/2016 08:03 pm by The Amazing Catstronaut »
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Offline Proponent

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Re: Who should be the next NASA Administrator?
« Reply #49 on: 03/15/2016 08:49 pm »
Hey, I like her, and I think she'd be a good administrator.  But she's not talking like someone who's contemplating being offered the job a year from now.

Offline Chris Bergin

Re: Who should be the next NASA Administrator?
« Reply #50 on: 03/15/2016 10:21 pm »
Ironically while doing some admin work in the forum's "shed" I noticed Lori is actually a registered member here! :o (As in her actual e-mail address and the IP checked out, etc.)

Still can't forgive her for her RS-25 smackdown, however ;)
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Offline QuantumG

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Re: Who should be the next NASA Administrator?
« Reply #51 on: 03/16/2016 01:03 am »
Couldn't be worse than Bolden.
Human spaceflight is basically just LARPing now.

Offline muomega0

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Re: Who should be the next NASA Administrator?
« Reply #52 on: 03/16/2016 01:51 am »
Has anybody watched any of the sessions of this year's Goddard Symposium (program attached)?  If you listen to the panel discussion entitled "Evolution of a Space Policy: How to Achieve Consensus" (about 30 minutes into this video video below), you'll hear Lori Garver giving her views on how space policy has developed.  She is quite blunt.  I doubt that she would be so blunt if she were interested in becoming administrator.
Here is the link to the Day 1, Afternoon Two Panel discussion:
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/84513017   with Marcia Smith, Garver,  Shank, Magnus,  Dittmar

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nasa-gsfc-science-and-exploration  - All the sessions.

Offline arachnitect

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Re: Who should be the next NASA Administrator?
« Reply #53 on: 03/16/2016 02:43 am »
Couldn't be worse than Bolden.

We'll be lucky if we get someone half as good.

Offline Proponent

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Re: Who should be the next NASA Administrator?
« Reply #54 on: 03/16/2016 04:34 am »
Still can't forgive her for her RS-25 smackdown, however ;)

What was the RS-25 smackdown?

Offline AncientU

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Re: Who should be the next NASA Administrator?
« Reply #55 on: 03/16/2016 01:08 pm »
Has anybody watched any of the sessions of this year's Goddard Symposium (program attached)?  If you listen to the panel discussion entitled "Evolution of a Space Policy: How to Achieve Consensus" (about 30 minutes into this video video below), you'll hear Lori Garver giving her views on how space policy has developed.  She is quite blunt.  I doubt that she would be so blunt if she were interested in becoming administrator.

Her introduction also says that she was Hillary Clinton's adviser for space policy before joining the Obama administration.  She is still quite passionate about what should be done and will likely have a shot at the position come November.
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Offline Rocket Science

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Re: Who should be the next NASA Administrator?
« Reply #56 on: 03/16/2016 01:13 pm »
Has anybody watched any of the sessions of this year's Goddard Symposium (program attached)?  If you listen to the panel discussion entitled "Evolution of a Space Policy: How to Achieve Consensus" (about 30 minutes into this video video below), you'll hear Lori Garver giving her views on how space policy has developed.  She is quite blunt.  I doubt that she would be so blunt if she were interested in becoming administrator.

Her introduction also says that she was Hillary Clinton's adviser for space policy before joining the Obama administration.  She is still quite passionate about what should be done and will likely have a shot at the position come November.
The question is could she get through the confirmation process in this political atmosphere and her stance on SLS?
"The laws of physics are unforgiving"
~Rob: Physics instructor, Aviator

Offline edkyle99

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Re: Who should be the next NASA Administrator?
« Reply #57 on: 03/16/2016 03:52 pm »
The question is could she get through the confirmation process in this political atmosphere and her stance on SLS?
Based on the votes cast yesterday in my home state, Illinois, it looks like the Republicans are going to lose the Senate.  That will  change a lot of things.

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Offline Proponent

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Re: Who should be the next NASA Administrator?
« Reply #58 on: 03/16/2016 03:56 pm »
Her introduction also says that she was Hillary Clinton's adviser for space policy before joining the Obama administration.  She is still quite passionate about what should be done and will likely have a shot at the position come November.

I'm betting you have not listened to the panel discussion:  her passion was burning brightly.  She pulled no punches and put people on the spot, including the space-policy guru who works for Lamar Smith in his capacity as chairman of the House Science Committee (and another one, by the way, was a former Republican space staffer in the Senate who used to participate in this forum).  Although it's the Senate rather than the House that confirms the NASA administrator, it seems unlikely to me that someone hoping to be confirmed by the Senate just a year from now would have publicly beat him up like that.

If asked to imagine the least unlikely scenario in which Garver becomes administrator, I would see Falcon Heavy flying successfully in the next twelve months and Garver really making a point of its immediate availability and low cost to question the wisdom of continuing SLS.  But imagine the ferociousness of that battle.  Why would Hillary Clinton want to get into a fight like that for a peripheral issue like space?

Offline Lar

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Re: Who should be the next NASA Administrator?
« Reply #59 on: 03/16/2016 03:58 pm »
The question is could she get through the confirmation process in this political atmosphere and her stance on SLS?
Based on the votes cast yesterday in my home state, Illinois, it looks like the Republicans are going to lose the Senate.  That will  change a lot of things.

SLS transcends parties... it's not whether the GOP or Dems control Congress, it's whether the particular senators and representatives that have been strong advocates in the past (for whatever reason, you all know my views) are reelected. Who heads NASA might be political, yes... but whence SLS? Purely economic.
« Last Edit: 03/16/2016 04:00 pm by Lar »
"I think it would be great to be born on Earth and to die on Mars. Just hopefully not at the point of impact." -Elon Musk
"We're a little bit like the dog who caught the bus" - Musk after CRS-8 S1 successfully landed on ASDS OCISLY

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