Editor wrote: "....say this about someone else's job qualifications...."

Pandering congresspersons and senators are the LAST-LAASSTT place you will ever find good advice on anything, let alone qualifications for NASA administrators.

I've always thought that an engineer/manager WITH politcal savvy was always the best choice....the politicos that stumble into the Administrator's office often are not well served by thier more experienced techical middle management.

Anyway, let's mix it up a bit. How about a few predictions for 2009 (pure conjecture and guesstimating) as a new administrator takes over:

1) Constellation/Orion/Ares/Altair/etc Program slowly recedes into the budget sunset - Program phased out and put on hold indefinitely.

2) Shuttle Program gets the nod for the next three-four budget cylces - maybe extending it out beyond 2012? Maybe gets to put up a whole bunch of civil space and DOD paylods.

3) Commercial resupply gets continued funding - takes the heat off Shuttle program for ISS cargo delivery/etc.

4) NASA solar systems exploration budgets tightend even more - let's say Mars program curtailed dramatically - and more Earth Sciences focused satellites/missions.

US Space Exploration, national pride and prestige, furthering science beyond Earth/Sun/Moon sees further deterioration - significant gains by other countries in space continues over the next four years - Perhaps even China on the moon.

Happy New Year!!!!

Keith --

What do you make of this line in Barbree's report:

>>>Griffin, the rocket scientist who drew up the blueprints used by President Ronald Reagan to convince the Soviet Union to tear down the Berlin Wall is hailed by many...

I feel fairly confident that Mike would not want anyone to make that claim on his behalf. Which is hard to imagine, since his work on SDI -- if that's even what Barbree is talking about -- came during Bush 41.

Editor's note: I am not at all certain which parallel universe Jay is reporting from. It is not the one that you and I live in, that's for sure.

- Jim

P.S. Altho it does bring to mind Dan Goldin's notorious threat to Yuri Semenov that he could go back to making ICBMs to destroy Russia if he didn't play nice.

Nelson maybe a hypocrite, but doesn't mean he is wrong about O'Keefe and right to caution the appointment of another individual without space experience.

Gration could be a good pick as NASA Deputy-administrator (which does not require as much as experience) but certainly NOT as the NASA administrator. I agree with Senator Nelson on this. Being an Obama supporter does not make him a qualified head of NASA. It's nice to see that some Democrats have common sense...

The comments on Nelson being a hypocrit

Editor's note: at least spell the word properly...

for criticizing the Gration pick makes no-sense. Nelson was not named commander of the Shuttle mission on that flight. Nelson was likely chosen to go to space at the time in order to show that you don't have to be a professional astronaut to go to space.

Editor's note: "likely chosen"? How about doing a little fact checking first. Nelson got himself on the flight as a Congressman so he could "do better oversight" of the agency. Yea right.

The Senate has to approve presidential appointees. So it's Senator Nelson's job to dtermine if Gration is qualified or not.

Yes I mispelled "hypocrite". But English isn't my first language.

Editor's note: ah yes. Your IP says you are in Canada. All this arm waving about another nation's space program, eh?

Great my cover is blown... I actually studied in the United States (Ohio) for a few years. People were very nice to me in the US and I have good memories of my stay there. I still follow US politics much more than Canadian politics. Your politics are more interesting and you debate all issues in the US which I think is great.

In any event, Canada contributes to the ISS and tries to collaborate with NASA on almost everything that it can (Canada Arm for the shuttle, Dextre for the ISS, etc.). We would also contribute to Ares if we were asked to. But because the United States wants an independent access to space, it does not want international partners for its rockets and I agree with this policy. Canada would have made the same decision than the Unites Sates if we were in your shoes (nobody wants to depend on another nation for access to space; but in our case, we have no choice). But once that we are on the moon, Canada will likely contribute with a rover or other permanent facilities.

P.S. But Canada also contributes to ESA. So we are hedging our bets...

Calling Sen. Nelson a hypocrite for criticizing the possibility if General Gration's nomination to NASA is duplicitous. Sen Nelson as chair of Science and Technology Committee that oversees NASA has every right to assess the suitability of potential nominees. I fail to see how Nelson hitching a ride on the Space Shuttle, which he help funded and in which his state certainly had a huge stake, creates a conflict with his Senatorial duties.

Editor's note: Gee, you are certainly informed. He flew when he was a Congressman - years before he was elected to the Senate.

His "qualifications" to ride the Space Shuttle aside, we are not talking about joyriding here but nominating a person to oversee NASA. Your post strikes me as extremely facetious.

Editor's note: Nelson said that O'Keefe was given a job at NASA that he was unqualified for when Nelson himself was given a job at NASA that he was unqualified for - one he used his Congressional seat to obtain! Talk about a textbook definition of hypocrisy!

"Ballast" is such a hurtful term. We prefer the use of the term "self-loading cargo".

I never said that Nelson got a ride on the space shuttle as a Senator. Please reread last post.

"Nelson said that O'Keefe was given a job at NASA that he was unqualified for when Nelson himself was given a job at NASA that he was unqualified for - one he used his Congressional seat to obtain! Talk about a textbook definition of hypocrisy!"

Nelson did not get a "job" at NASA. Anyone can ride on the space shuttle, there are no "qualifications" for that, they just have to meet the physical requirements (basically just being in good health and fit. Again, I will point out that Nelson was a Rep of Congress from Florida which has been funding NASA and the shuttle, so he had a chance to and reason to get a ride. NASA designated him as a payload specialist because they had no other classification for shuttle passengers. Your statement is simply a bad comparison. Sean O'Keefe was getting a "job" at NASA is a different matter altogether. He had little experience in the Space-related fields and he certainly didn't have the background of someone like James Webb. Having the President's eat or VP's isn't enough. He may have come up with the VSE, but he left NASA with its management in disarray. There is simply no hypocrisy here on Senator Nelson's part.

I think your comments on hypocrisy are misplaced for several reasons.

1. There is a difference in being a passenger in a vehicle and being the driver. Nelson was nothing more than a passenger; he was nothing more than that. He wasn't on the shuttle flight as a pilot, for which he was definitely unqualified. Were there astronauts available who could have been more useful due to years of training rather than Nelson? Of course. (I always thought his flight was nonsense, by the way.) Your comment would imply that not a single person currently signed up to take flights on the ongoing efforts of private companies to launch passenger rides is "qualifed" to be on those flights. Should those efforts be discontinued because of the lack of "qualifications" of the passengers?

2. The quoted language of Nelson's spokesman did not relate to qualifications. You have read that into the statement. That language discussed "someone without NASA experience". Most often, such familiarity with an agency, its mission, its procedures, etc., is preferable (remember "Brownie" and FEMA in New Orleans?). Gration may be a fantastic administrator; but in an organization with such technology and engineering missions, it would seem preferable to have someone with real experience in those areas to ensure that the actual technical challenges faced are understood by the person making the decisions. Clearly, experience with NASA and its processes would help. Can you deny that?

3. The real question for me is why you are carrying water for Gration here?

A shocking thing to say for someone who did use his congressional position to ride the shuttle. Even he has said himself that to "support NASA" he needed to understand what they did and the only way to understand was to fly a mission.

What rot. He wanted a junket and got it. If anyone can ride the shuttle where do I get my ticket?

As for O'Keefe, from what I've seen of his management of NASA he did a pretty decent job of running the agency.

Nelson was worse than ballast - at least ballast just sits there and doesn't require the real crew to babysit - he was a bleepin liability. He wasn't even competent enough to hook up his own g-suit and LES connections for reentry, nor could he even recognize his home state when flying directly over it. He's certainly even below the mean in technical competence of all those techno-idiots in the U.S. Congress.

Editor's note: without revealing this poster's identify, rest assured, he would have first hand knowledge.

As for Gration, he does at least have a mechanical engineering undergraduate degree. Couple that with the extensive policy-related military staff jobs, political science-type graduate work, in-depth operational experience, command and leadership experience, and he looks like a strong candidate, though I don't think anyone out there can hold a candle to Charlie Bolden in any of those areas. Guess we'll find out soon enough.

Nelson has every right to comment, and as a dyspeptic, rank bloviator has the obligation to receive the returning comments. SOMEONE capable and inspirational needs to be in charge. NASA eats itself-those who would impose accountability and personal responsibility: beware.

I gag every time I am too slow to change the channel when Sen. Nelson has anything to say about spaceflight. His criticism of O'Keefe would be laughable if he didn't wield so much power over such important matters. Mission ops lore (he flew before I had joined the ranks) recounted that he left the toilet running TWICE up in orbit, setting off the rapid cabin depressurization alarm in the middle of the crew's sleep shift.

Self-loading cargo, indeed. How about a self-loading albatross?

"Editor's note: without revealing this poster's identify, rest assured, he would have first hand knowledge."

Yep, "Hoot" Gibson would have firsthand knowledge alright and its understandable his fustration given he and many astronauts worked hard for years before getting assigned a mission to just have a Congressman come along and snatch a spot away from them. That doesn't make the comparison any more reasonable.

Editor's note: No, Gary, it is not Hoot.

Too bad. First guy I thought of based on the comments. Well, then would RKT PLT care to comment on Michael Griffin?

I refer the readers to the chapter in our book "New Moon Rising" that showed what Senator Nelson did and said in the minutes immediately following the 2003 Columbia accident ("Well, you're gonna earn your spurs on this one!")Nelson's present-day criticism of Sean O'Keefe is based more on his past relationship-or lack thereof-with the administrator during O'Keefe's tenure than to anything else.
It is a time for building coalitions and showing leadership to help assure the survival of the space program. I hope Senator Nelson rises to the occasion.

I'm a 55 year resident of the Space Coast area and Bill Nelson has always been a publicity hound. I believe this was the only reason for his demand to be carted along on a shuttle flight. If I remember correctly this demand resulted in bumping Christa McCuliff(sp?) from Nelson's flight to the following fatal Challenger flight. I have never heard any word of remorse from him.