Is The Agency "Adrift"... Or, The President?

Delays by the Obama administration in naming a permanent leader for NASA are reportedly bringing frustration and anxiety to both agency planners and US lawmakers.

Christopher Scolese took over on a temporary basis when former NASA Administrator and lightning-rod Michael Griffin stepped down. The Washington Post reports the White House has twice called off announcing a nominee to take the position because of opposition from members of Congress with influence over space policy.

Senator Bill Nelson, a Florida Democrat, has lobbied openly pushed Marine General Charles Bolden as a candidate. Nelson recently commented, "I am frustrated, because I don't know what the delay is."

A favorite among space bloggers is said to be former Texas congressman Nick Lampson, who lost his bid for reelection in November. Lampson tells the Post he hasn't been contacted.

Space program observers note NASA must continuously make decisions with implication that play out over years or decades. At an appearance in Florida last month, President Obama commented, "I think it's fair to say that there's been a sense of drift to our space program over the last several years."

After campaigning for a five-year delay in NASA's new manned program to divert funding to education, Obama later reversed himself at a campaign appearance in Florida. More recently, his 2009 federal budget appeared to keep existing programs moving forward, but the President has since called for a complete evaluation of NASA's goals.

To outsiders, NASA's goals would appear fairly clear. The agency wants to retire its shuttle fleet in September 2010, after using all-but one of the remaining missions to complete work on the International Space Station.

Work is already underway on NASA's next manned space vehicle, named Orion... which will ferry astronauts to the ISS at first, then eventually carry them back to the Moon and, later, to Mars. That program -- which in many ways will emulate the Apollo lunar program of the late 1960s -- is projected to run up a $44 billion price tag before the first manned flight heads to the ISS in March 2015, and there's growing concerns NASA won't meet that date.

The indecision has led space policy analysts to question whether it's really NASA's agenda that's adrift... or the President's. Scott Pace, director of George Washington University's Space Policy Institute, observes, "What does he mean by 'adrift'? It's adrift until the president gets comfortable with it."

FMI: www.nasa.gov