Quote from: UberNobody on 02/26/2016 07:45 pmWhy would heads explode thinking about Lori Garver? I don't know too much about her, but she seems to understand the value of commercial partners and fixed price contracts.Her lack of enthusiasm for Shuttle-derived stuff makes her intensely disliked in some quarters. You can find some quite dismissive comments about her in this forum.
Why would heads explode thinking about Lori Garver? I don't know too much about her, but she seems to understand the value of commercial partners and fixed price contracts.
Quote from: edkyle99 on 02/27/2016 08:39 pmWayne Hale, if he could be cajoled out of retirement. The man was a brilliant shuttle program manager, and has almost too much common sense for the job. He famously told a room of NASA and contractor folks last fall, "If you want to know who to blame, look in the mirror".https://waynehale.wordpress.com/2015/11/04/von-braun-symposium-speech-oct-29-2015/ - Ed KyleHere's how Wayne thinks about becoming NASA Administrator:Quote from: Wayne Halewaynehale 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.
Wayne Hale, if he could be cajoled out of retirement. The man was a brilliant shuttle program manager, and has almost too much common sense for the job. He famously told a room of NASA and contractor folks last fall, "If you want to know who to blame, look in the mirror".https://waynehale.wordpress.com/2015/11/04/von-braun-symposium-speech-oct-29-2015/ - Ed Kyle
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.
But the above details are 100% percent real. If Ms Garver becomes Administrator, dumps SLS and replaces it with a Vulcan/Falcon Heavy combo to accomplish manned exploration beyond Low Earth Orbit, she will have my grudging respect. But if she cancels SLS/Orion and replaces it with nothing, then she'll earn more eternal contempt from me (and others) than anything Mike Griffin ever did and would eclipse any failure he ever had.
Quote from: Proponent on 02/27/2016 06:45 pmHer lack of enthusiasm for Shuttle-derived stuff makes her intensely disliked in some quarters. You can find some quite dismissive comments about her in this forum.In 2011 when I was at KSC covering STS-135, I spoke to about a half-dozen technicians and engineers who worked within the VAB at the time. One man mentioned that it was no secret that many people who worked within KSC on Shuttle were going to be unceremoniously dumped from their positions soon. Some, but not all would go on to do other things within NASA but certainly many of the 'greybeards' would be let go. And so it proved to be. One of the group that day said rather darkly; "If Garver becomes Administrator, they wont have to fire me - I'll quit!" And most of the others muttered their agreeing dissent.
Her lack of enthusiasm for Shuttle-derived stuff makes her intensely disliked in some quarters. You can find some quite dismissive comments about her in this forum.
Quote from: MATTBLAK on 02/28/2016 11:34 amBut the above details are 100% percent real. If Ms Garver becomes Administrator, dumps SLS and replaces it with a Vulcan/Falcon Heavy combo to accomplish manned exploration beyond Low Earth Orbit, she will have my grudging respect. But if she cancels SLS/Orion and replaces it with nothing, then she'll earn more eternal contempt from me (and others) than anything Mike Griffin ever did and would eclipse any failure he ever had. Fundamental question MattBlak - if she became NASA administrator, which do you think she would try to do? I ask try because success/failure may be out of the admins control. But what do you think she would honestly be trying to do?
Quote from: MATTBLAK on 02/28/2016 11:34 amQuote from: Proponent on 02/27/2016 06:45 pmHer lack of enthusiasm for Shuttle-derived stuff makes her intensely disliked in some quarters. You can find some quite dismissive comments about her in this forum.In 2011 when I was at KSC covering STS-135, I spoke to about a half-dozen technicians and engineers who worked within the VAB at the time. One man mentioned that it was no secret that many people who worked within KSC on Shuttle were going to be unceremoniously dumped from their positions soon. Some, but not all would go on to do other things within NASA but certainly many of the 'greybeards' would be let go. And so it proved to be. One of the group that day said rather darkly; "If Garver becomes Administrator, they wont have to fire me - I'll quit!" And most of the others muttered their agreeing dissent.So what you're saying is she was unpopular with a bunch of people who were about to lose their jobs because of policies she championed. That's hardly surprising and doesn't reflect poorly on her unless you happen to believe those policies are wrong.I think NASA needs change. Some current programs that employ many people need to be cut. Of course that's not going to be popular among many of the people currently working at NASA.I hope the next NASA administrator is someone who is not popular among current NASA workers. The kind of massive change NASA needs won't happen without a lot of pain to many people currently working there.In the private sector in competitive markets, this kind of change is not uncommon, and it is absolutely necessary to continue to adapt and maximize efficiency. NASA employees have been protected from that for far too long.
Quote from: ChrisWilson68 on 02/29/2016 03:42 amQuote from: MATTBLAK on 02/28/2016 11:34 amQuote from: Proponent on 02/27/2016 06:45 pmHer lack of enthusiasm for Shuttle-derived stuff makes her intensely disliked in some quarters. You can find some quite dismissive comments about her in this forum.In 2011 when I was at KSC covering STS-135, I spoke to about a half-dozen technicians and engineers who worked within the VAB at the time. One man mentioned that it was no secret that many people who worked within KSC on Shuttle were going to be unceremoniously dumped from their positions soon. Some, but not all would go on to do other things within NASA but certainly many of the 'greybeards' would be let go. And so it proved to be. One of the group that day said rather darkly; "If Garver becomes Administrator, they wont have to fire me - I'll quit!" And most of the others muttered their agreeing dissent.So what you're saying is she was unpopular with a bunch of people who were about to lose their jobs because of policies she championed. That's hardly surprising and doesn't reflect poorly on her unless you happen to believe those policies are wrong.I think NASA needs change. Some current programs that employ many people need to be cut. Of course that's not going to be popular among many of the people currently working at NASA.I hope the next NASA administrator is someone who is not popular among current NASA workers. The kind of massive change NASA needs won't happen without a lot of pain to many people currently working there.In the private sector in competitive markets, this kind of change is not uncommon, and it is absolutely necessary to continue to adapt and maximize efficiency. NASA employees have been protected from that for far too long.Unpopularity is important - it speaks to people's desire to be lead. And with policies; someone is always gonna be unhappy. But leadership is very important and I feel that some of Garver's ideas were 'slash-and-burn' with no better or even merely different ideas to follow.
<snip>Any NASA Administrator who achieved that over an 8-to-10 year period would be damned heroic in my book. But support has got to come from Congress, the President, Commercial Space and the International Space partners.
If Ms Garver becomes Administrator, dumps SLS and replaces it with a Vulcan/Falcon Heavy combo to accomplish manned exploration beyond Low Earth Orbit, she will have my grudging respect. But if she cancels SLS/Orion and replaces it with nothing, then she'll earn more eternal contempt from me (and others) than anything Mike Griffin ever did and would eclipse any failure he ever had.
Quote from: MATTBLAK on 02/28/2016 11:34 amIf Ms Garver becomes Administrator, dumps SLS and replaces it with a Vulcan/Falcon Heavy combo to accomplish manned exploration beyond Low Earth Orbit, she will have my grudging respect. But if she cancels SLS/Orion and replaces it with nothing, then she'll earn more eternal contempt from me (and others) than anything Mike Griffin ever did and would eclipse any failure he ever had. It strikes me as so unlikely that Orion/SLS will ever accomplish any significant exploration that I would hard pressed to regard its elimination as much of a loss, even if it were replaced by no BEO program at all. I do realize that I may be on the pessimistic end of the spectrum.
Quote from: woods170 on 02/28/2016 09:41 amQuote from: edkyle99 on 02/27/2016 08:39 pmWayne Hale, if he could be cajoled out of retirement. The man was a brilliant shuttle program manager, and has almost too much common sense for the job. He famously told a room of NASA and contractor folks last fall, "If you want to know who to blame, look in the mirror".https://waynehale.wordpress.com/2015/11/04/von-braun-symposium-speech-oct-29-2015/ - Ed KyleHere's how Wayne thinks about becoming NASA Administrator:Quote from: Wayne Halewaynehale 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.(From the comments section of https://waynehale.wordpress.com/2015/11/04/von-braun-symposium-speech-oct-29-2015/)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
Quote from: edkyle99 on 02/27/2016 08:39 pmWayne Hale, if he could be cajoled out of retirement. The man was a brilliant shuttle program manager, and has almost too much common sense for the job. He famously told a room of NASA and contractor folks last fall, "If you want to know who to blame, look in the mirror".https://waynehale.wordpress.com/2015/11/04/von-braun-symposium-speech-oct-29-2015/ - Ed KyleHere's how Wayne thinks about becoming NASA Administrator:Quote from: Wayne Halewaynehale 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.(From the comments section of https://waynehale.wordpress.com/2015/11/04/von-braun-symposium-speech-oct-29-2015/)
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.(From the comments section of https://waynehale.wordpress.com/2015/11/04/von-braun-symposium-speech-oct-29-2015/)
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.