Author Topic: Nomination of Bill Nelson as NASA Administrator  (Read 76124 times)

Offline deadman1204

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Re: Nomination of Bill Nelson as NASA Administrator
« Reply #40 on: 03/19/2021 10:15 pm »
https://twitter.com/SpcPlcyOnline/status/1372924894493696002

Not the most inspiring statement (a little too generic). I am surprised that he didn't even mention Artemis or the Moon to Mars program.

Its appropriate that he didn't. People forget that the NASA admin serves at the pleasure of the president. The admin is there to exact the president's plans - not their own. As the head of NASA, Nelson's job will be to stear NASA in the direction that Biden wants, not what he wants.

Offline ulm_atms

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Re: Nomination of Bill Nelson as NASA Administrator
« Reply #41 on: 03/19/2021 10:15 pm »
I may have a  :-\ face....but as long as NASA doesn't go backwards now...I can live with it.  NASA finally seemed to have come around that there are a lot of commercial possibilities and they do not have to have everything done by NASA under NASA.  I just don't want NASA to go backwards and think that they have to do everything and start throwing cost plus contracts everywhere again.

Nelson, have NASA engineers focus on the hard/new parts.  Let commercial deal with the easy/known parts.  Consider what other companies have and use that instead of having to have 100% control over every piece of every plan.  NASA needs to be a partner to many...not a master to all.  And please don't bring back cost plus rocketry.  That is all I ask of you.

Offline yg1968

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« Last Edit: 03/19/2021 10:33 pm by yg1968 »

Offline yg1968

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Re: Nomination of Bill Nelson as NASA Administrator
« Reply #43 on: 03/19/2021 10:34 pm »
https://twitter.com/SpcPlcyOnline/status/1372924894493696002

Not the most inspiring statement (a little too generic). I am surprised that he didn't even mention Artemis or the Moon to Mars program.

Its appropriate that he didn't. People forget that the NASA admin serves at the pleasure of the president. The admin is there to exact the president's plans - not their own. As the head of NASA, Nelson's job will be to stear NASA in the direction that Biden wants, not what he wants.

Yes but the Biden Administration has already come out in favor of Artemis and the Moon to Mars program.

Offline yg1968

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Re: Nomination of Bill Nelson as NASA Administrator
« Reply #44 on: 03/19/2021 11:28 pm »
Excellent article by Marcia Smith, very balanced:

Quote from: Marcia Smith
Biden Picks Bill Nelson as Next NASA Administrator

https://twitter.com/SpcPlcyOnline/status/1373039043643080705

« Last Edit: 03/19/2021 11:28 pm by yg1968 »

Online Coastal Ron

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Re: Nomination of Bill Nelson as NASA Administrator
« Reply #45 on: 03/19/2021 11:38 pm »
Excellent article by Marcia Smith, very balanced:

Quote from: Marcia Smith
Biden Picks Bill Nelson as Next NASA Administrator

https://twitter.com/SpcPlcyOnline/status/1373039043643080705

From that article:
Quote
Bolden said “no one is more disappointed than me” that a woman was not nominated. He proposed three names to the Biden team himself, all women (including Pam Melroy) and said Nelson did as well, but when the call came from the President, it was for Nelson to serve.

I guess we'll see what that means once (if) Nelson gets settled at NASA. Biden appears to have a specific role that he wants Nelson to fill, whatever that may be.
If we don't continuously lower the cost to access space, how are we ever going to afford to expand humanity out into space?

Offline yg1968

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Re: Nomination of Bill Nelson as NASA Administrator
« Reply #46 on: 03/19/2021 11:44 pm »
I think that Biden wanted Nelson to serve as Administrator. Nelson was Biden's guy. I don't think that Biden has specific ideas about how NASA should be run.

Bolden had Pam Melroy on his list (perhaps Nelson too). I am pretty sure that Lori Garver wasn't on Senator Nelson's list...
« Last Edit: 03/20/2021 12:23 am by yg1968 »

Offline FinalFrontier

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Re: Nomination of Bill Nelson as NASA Administrator
« Reply #47 on: 03/20/2021 02:07 am »
Going to break with the forum here. I think this is a good choice under the circumstances.
I also have strong reason to think that Nelson will be more considering of commercial LVs for BEO now than he was in the past. He is and always has been a fairly level headed guy.
Keep in mind that when the CXP debacle occurred SpaceX and the others were very nascent very small and very fragile. Many of the capabilities that exist now were purely theoretical and very high risk at that time, with the noteworthy exception being ACES and EELV2.

If he is still as level headed as in the past he will try to find the best blended solution of everything available. That probably means SLS stays but commercial gets a big role in Artemis and in other BEO plans (like Mars).

So in short I think this is a good choice maybe the best choice under the current circumstances
Don't forget the DNC has only very narrow margin in the Senate right now so building some bipartisanship wrt the big orange pork rocket is important for many reasons.
« Last Edit: 03/20/2021 02:08 am by FinalFrontier »
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Offline Danderman

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Re: Nomination of Bill Nelson as NASA Administrator
« Reply #48 on: 03/20/2021 03:57 am »
IMHO, Nelson will be very protective of KSC.

But maybe now that he is out of the Senate, his perspective will widen.

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Re: Nomination of Bill Nelson as NASA Administrator
« Reply #49 on: 03/20/2021 11:08 am »
https://twitter.com/jy_legall/status/1373225669253992455

Google translate:

Quote
Congratulations to Bill Nelson, nominated to be the next NASA Administrator! Bill is one of the best space specialists in the world! A real plus for NASA!@NASA@cnes🇺🇸🇫🇷

Offline Robotbeat

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Re: Nomination of Bill Nelson as NASA Administrator
« Reply #50 on: 03/20/2021 01:48 pm »
I admit I had similar misgivings about Bridenstein that lasted a year into his tenure and as such I am willing to give Nelson a fair shake. I don't think them both coming from congress is a strong predictor of outcome. They can both move the political machine, but the part that made Bridenstein special is that he understood where the machine should be going and was able to work minor miracles to keep commercial crew on track while not alarming the SLS advocates.
Same.

And I think the Old Guard is persuadable. Nothing persuades quite like success. So if SpaceX gets Starship to orbit (or even around the Moon with people), the old guard will be impressed and will be persuaded. Likewise for Blue Origin, Rocketlab, and others. These efforts are far enough along that it's not like the desperate days of years' past where we weren't even sure if Dragon or Falcon 9 would make it.
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Offline Robotbeat

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Re: Nomination of Bill Nelson as NASA Administrator
« Reply #51 on: 03/20/2021 01:50 pm »
IMHO, Nelson will be very protective of KSC.

But maybe now that he is out of the Senate, his perspective will widen.
Being protective of KSC is not so bad for New Space now that New Space is using the Cape operationally. SpaceX is putting LC39a to good use. (Hopefully Blue will do the same for their part of the Cape--although that *is* on the USAF/SpaceForce side.)

The only American ride into space right now that's proven is Dragon. Gateway will rely almost entirely on Falcon Heavy. Starship is even doing pretty well and may achieve orbit before SLS.

At this point, it's almost good to ensure two HLS providers just so SpaceX doesn't take over everything that NASA HSF does. (Good to have a healthy industry beyond SpaceX.)

This is a very different story from like 12 years ago. Or even 5 years ago.
« Last Edit: 03/20/2021 01:55 pm by Robotbeat »
Chris  Whoever loves correction loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid.

To the maximum extent practicable, the Federal Government shall plan missions to accommodate the space transportation services capabilities of United States commercial providers. US law http://goo.gl/YZYNt0

Offline woods170

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Re: Nomination of Bill Nelson as NASA Administrator
« Reply #52 on: 03/20/2021 02:56 pm »
Keep in mind that when the CXP debacle occurred SpaceX and the others were very nascent very small and very fragile. Many of the capabilities that exist now were purely theoretical and very high risk at that time, with the noteworthy exception being ACES and EELV2.

I find fault with several elements of this statement of yours.

ACES very much was high risk in the 2009-2010 timeframe. It's why it does not exist to this very day.

When the CxP debacle played out, between October 2009 and October 2010, SpaceX was not exactly nascent. They had been in existence for seven years and had launched five rockets, of which two successfull. By the time Obama officially canned CxP in October 2010 (by signing the NASA Authorization Act of 2010) SpaceX had six launches under its belt; in July 2010 SpaceX launched its first Falcon 9 successfully. In October 2010 SpaceX was also just two months away from becoming the first private company to successfully orbit and recover a capsule.

The other company involved in COTS at that time was Orbital Sciences Corp. And they were anything but nascent, anything but small, anything but fragile and Cygnus was anything but theoretical (with the service module being a direct derivative from OSC's satellite platform and the cargo module being a direct derivative ISS modules).

And the only capability that exists today, which was theoretical back then, is Crew Dragon. Not exactly 'many of the capabilities'.
« Last Edit: 03/20/2021 03:00 pm by woods170 »

Online Johnnyhinbos

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Re: Nomination of Bill Nelson as NASA Administrator
« Reply #53 on: 03/20/2021 06:21 pm »
I wonder how long it'll be this time round before Nelson puts himself on a Dragon Crew manifest...
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Offline yg1968

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Offline yg1968

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Offline yg1968

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Offline yg1968

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Re: Nomination of Bill Nelson as NASA Administrator
« Reply #57 on: 03/22/2021 02:40 pm »
Quote from: Joey Roulette
Charlie Bolden on criticisms that Bill Nelson paved the way for SLS's budget/schedule problems: "It's not fair to lay that on Nelson at all. When I was the NASA Administrator, it was my fault... I didn't execute on getting SLS delivered." via @Rachael_Joy

https://twitter.com/joroulette/status/1374016265904386049
« Last Edit: 03/22/2021 02:53 pm by yg1968 »

Offline FinalFrontier

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Re: Nomination of Bill Nelson as NASA Administrator
« Reply #58 on: 03/23/2021 05:06 am »
Quote from: Joey Roulette
Charlie Bolden on criticisms that Bill Nelson paved the way for SLS's budget/schedule problems: "It's not fair to lay that on Nelson at all. When I was the NASA Administrator, it was my fault... I didn't execute on getting SLS delivered." via @Rachael_Joy

https://twitter.com/joroulette/status/1374016265904386049
Poor old Charlie. I really feel like he got the you know what end of the stick.
This statement isn't exactly untrue however. But under the circumstances yea wasn't all his fault.
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Offline MATTBLAK

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Re: Nomination of Bill Nelson as NASA Administrator
« Reply #59 on: 03/23/2021 05:21 am »
When it comes to SLS; there's a lot of blame to go around.
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