NASA head talks straight to Obama

William Atkins
Sunday, 16 November 2008 22:43

Science - Space

Thus, my recommendation to the Obama Administration is to leave Mike Griffin where he can do the most good for the United States: at the helm of NASA.

Give him more money to run the space agency, but set up good fiscal controls to make sure that the new Constellation manned project is developed as efficiently and safety as possible.

Most importantly, make sure you retain the people that are already working at NASA and make sure they are freely allowed to give their comments and criticisms at all levels of NASA and its contractors.

You can't have maximum safety when NASA and its contractor employees are not allowed to freely voice their opinions.

If the new administration feels that the shuttle is needed to stop-gap the years before the new Orion spacecraft gets off the ground, then make sure the shuttle fleet is operated as safety as possible.

And, fly only the bare number of flight as is absolutely needed.

In any federal program: do it right the first time, or don't do it!