Bolden responds to 60 minutes video on the Shuttle

[yg1968]

http://blogs.nasa.gov/cm/newui/blog/viewpostlist.jsp?blogname=bolden

[Namechange User]

And it is a response that has politics written all over it and one that spins the situation rather strongly as well. 

[FinalFrontier]

And it is a response that has politics written all over it and one that spins the situation rather strongly as well. 

Agreed, was frankly disgusted with it. Was almost like reading a speech from Obama himself.

Especially this

fter the 2003 Space Shuttle Columbia tragedy, the previous Administration decided in 2004 to end the Space Shuttle Program by 2010. President Obama decided to add two space shuttle missions to the program’s life, prolonging its retirement into 2011 and found a way to keep the International Space Station operating much longer into the future. This will allow for productive utilization of the ISS.

Neglecting to mention it was not Obama but Congress that insisted on that and Congressmen and women who made it happen in spite of shuttle hate from the white house.

[Lurker Steve]

Yes, Bolden forgets to mention that the previous Admin decided to end the shuttle program by 2010 because the replacement was supposed to be flying by then. The previous admin did not plan on a gap.

Constellation was not ready on time. It "might" have been ready by 2014 (that was the latest published date before cancellation, right ?), but that too was cancelled.

Obama / Bolden have been on the scene since 2009. They may have made the correct decision to cancel Ares I/V, but not extending the shuttle to cover the gap was entirely their decision.

[Robotbeat]

"As the President has said, this Administration will not rest until every American who wants a job can find one."   

Yikes.  He's going to have some big bags under his eyes soon. 

I get very uncomfortable when a government thinks its their role to employ everyone. 

Better than a government that thinks it's their role to fire everyone.

(Not aimed necessarily at you, go4mars, just broadly) I totally love it. The guns come out blazing against Obama for not securing those jobs, then the same guns come out blazing against the idea that the government should secure jobs. Obama cut the Shuttle workers... Dang socialist.

(FWIW, I do think that the government should be extra careful about firing during a recession. It causes extra strain on those fired--it takes a LOT longer to find a job--and on the communities they reside in, much more than during a boom. The pain those Shuttle workers feel is real, whether or not they work for the government.)

[Chris Bergin]

Alright guys, let's not get into party politics again, it got blooming stupid the last time.

As far as this presser/blog, 1) I'm glad he didn't ignore it and published this. 2) It's very fluffy. 3) He's right to fight back with what 60 minutes missed, that's his job. 4) Doesn't change the facts or the impact to Joe Public in the 60 minutes doc (I hear it's a massive show).

I'm really torn as I personally don't like these docs. They always go for the dramatic, with soft shading to promote the interviewer as some sort of media god (like that woman on ABC news), but it won points for giving these guys a voice, showing it's not all sunshine and roses - (Dragon and Puppies for everyone!), and for the very respectful words for Atlantis at the end <--which I will always like!

[FinalFrontier]

"As the President has said, this Administration will not rest until every American who wants a job can find one."   

Yikes.  He's going to have some big bags under his eyes soon. 

I get very uncomfortable when a government thinks its their role to employ everyone. 

Better than a government that thinks it's their role to fire everyone.

(Not aimed necessarily at you, go4mars, just broadly) I totally love it. The guns come out blazing against Obama for not securing those jobs, then the same guns come out blazing against the idea that the government should secure jobs. Obama cut the Shuttle workers... Dang socialist.

(FWIW, I do think that the government should be extra careful about firing during a recession. It causes extra strain on those fired--it takes a LOT longer to find a job--and on the communities they reside in, much more than during a boom. The pain those Shuttle workers feel is real, whether or not they work for the government.)

STS should have been extended we all agree on this. At least this way it would have given commercial firms more time to get operating, and it would have been possible to transition the STS workforce to the new SLS program as well as allowing the option for some of them to move to the private sector.

What was done instead is basically everyone was cut off at the knee and that was it.



You can try and make that argument, but your just going to be grasping at straws, the criticisms of this government and administration, especially of its handling of spaceflight, is legitimate.


And your not a socialist for extending an industrially critical government program as well as aiding the private sector to get setup and moving to ultimately takeover. You are, however, a total hypocrite and a failure when you talk about jobs out of one side of your mouth and subsidize useless objectives such as Solindra (or however you spell it) whilst firing useful people and shutting down productive programs such as STS and at the same time, stating that your "focused on jobs" in America.

And don't get me started on the pipeline stuff.


I digress, I am not going to go down this rabbit hole again, I am merely pointing out that your point changes nothing.

[manboy]

Yes, Bolden forgets to mention that the previous Admin decided to end the shuttle program by 2010 because the replacement was supposed to be flying by then. The previous admin did not plan on a gap.

Wrong. Space Shuttle wasn't being retired because the CEV would be ready, it was being retired because the ISS was meant to be completed.

"In 2010, the Space Shuttle -- after nearly 30 years of duty -- will be retired from service.

Our second goal is to develop and test a new spacecraft, the Crew Exploration Vehicle, by 2008, and to conduct the first manned mission no later than 2014."

http://history.nasa.gov/Bush%20SEP.htm

[pathfinder_01]

Yes, Bolden forgets to mention that the previous Admin decided to end the shuttle program by 2010 because the replacement was supposed to be flying by then. The previous admin did not plan on a gap.

Wrong.

"In 2010, the Space Shuttle -- after nearly 30 years of duty -- will be retired from service.

Our second goal is to develop and test a new spacecraft, the Crew Exploration Vehicle, by 2008, and to conduct the first manned mission no later than 2014."

http://history.nasa.gov/Bush%20SEP.htm

Yeap the problem was the gap expanded. Ares looked like it might fly in 2017(and worse still be no cheaper than the shuttle). NASA might have been able to employ people for a extra year or so(training) but not 5-6 years.  The other option was the slow down the launch rate of the shuttle which is not an attractive one.

[IRobot]

One thing I missed: if the overall NASA budget is the same, were those 7000 jobs replace, at least partially, with other programs?

[manboy]

One thing I missed: if the overall NASA budget is the same, were those 7000 jobs replace, at least partially, with other programs?

That's a good question. I know Lockheed is building Orion in Florida.

[LegendCJS]

The previous admin did not plan on a gap.

There fixed that for you.

[Robotbeat]

The previous admin did not plan on a gap.

There fixed that for you.

Previous administration also planned to splash ISS by 2015 or so.

[MP99]

http://blogs.nasa.gov/cm/newui/blog/viewpostlist.jsp?blogname=bolden

President Obama took a hard look at the facts and put in place our current plan, laid out in a speech at Kennedy Space Center in April 2010.

That was the speech that cancelled Orion and planned to wait five years before beginning work on a new HLV, neither of which are in the plan today.

cheers, Martin

[woods170]

STS should have been extended we all agree on this. At least this way it would have given commercial firms more time to get operating, and it would have been possible to transition the STS workforce to the new SLS program as well as allowing the option for some of them to move to the private sector.

(emphasis mine)
Speak for yourself please. I've never been in favor of a shuttle extension.

Also: a shuttle extension would not have changed the targeted 'splash' date of ISS and thus would not have offered any more time for the commercial firms. The latter have to get their act together before ISS comes down. There is not really a market for them post-ISS.

Furthermore: a part of the shuttle workforce actually has transitioned to the SLS program, but SLS will never host a workforce as large as the shuttle did. Not with the projected low flight-rate, the throw-away SRB's, and without a fleet of four (pardon me: three) very complex shuttle's to maintain.

Also: part of the shuttle workforce has moved to the private sector.

Finally: Ever since the infamous speech by president Bush Jr in 2004, it has been known that shuttle was set to leave the stage. The STS workforce has had several years to prepare for this, unlike many US citizens who have been laid off on almost instant notice in recent years, due to the economical crisis, and thus had no time to prepare for anything.

Put in that perspective the 60 Minutes special about the demise of the KSC workforce is IMO pointless. Therefore IMO the reaction from Bolden is equally pointless.

On a personal note: I agree with Chris Bergin. Having watched the 60 Minutes special, I find it to over-dramatize the entire situation. The salute to Atlantis is nice though.

[JohnFornaro]

The previous admin [Bush II] did not plan on a gap.

Neither did they adequately scope or design or build the replacement rocket.  Mr. Obama reached across the aisle in a bi-partisan fashion and continued the legacy of his predecessor.

1) I'm glad he didn't ignore it and published this. 2) It's very fluffy. 3) He's right to fight back with what 60 minutes missed, that's his job. 4) Doesn't change the facts or the impact to Joe Public in the 60 minutes doc ...

+10? (1+2+3+4?)

In general, I agree with Mr. Bolden's blog statement.  He uses some unfortunate phraseology here and there:

As the President has said, this Administration will not rest until every American who wants a job can find one.

That all pols say stuff like this doesn't mean it's anything other than a complete falsehood.

...the President convened an independent commission of experts. The committee found that the previous Administration's plan ... was not viable under any feasible budget scenario.

The truth hurts.  I innocently thought that the A-Comm signaled an end to four decades of business as usual, tho.

NASA last year selected the design for the most powerful rocket ever to be built –...SLS...

But which shows clear signs of being a bloated system itself.

The next-generation deep space capsule, Orion, is a Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle to ferry astronauts beyond the Earth’s orbit to an asteroid, Mars and other destinations ...

Actually the modernized version two of the previous generation capsule, when what is needed is a winged, fully resuable craft, built with the expected longevity of a B-52.  But a capsule is all we can afford, I understand.  And casually omitting the crucial question of why go to a rock when we could get so much more science and economy building in a 473 day lunar sortie.

With all of these elements now in place...

Well, actually, hopefully soon to be in place.

[spectre9]

Charlie is doing the right thing by those paying the bills.

NASA was happy for people to go thinking how cheap it was to reuse the orbiter/boosters.

Unfortunately this illusion was going to fall down eventually and it took a while for reality to sink in.