back to article Obama taps new NASA boss

After weeks of speculation about who will become NASA's new boss, US President Barack Obama has named four-time shuttle astronaut and retired Marine major general Charles Bolden as his nominee for the post. Charles Bolden, Image courtesy NASA Although the nod came later than expected, Bolden's name has already been floating …

COMMENTS

This topic is closed for new posts.
  1. Andrew Fraser
    Flame

    And the NASA fail will continue...

    Well, NASA's level of suck will continue, as they have appointed a puppet, rather and an engineer, project manager, or scientist.

    They appointed a man who will follow orders, without understanding the implications of said orders.

    He is pretty much a glorified space monkey, he just happened to have the right physical attributes, and the ability to lick the right asses, to get to be an astro in the first place.

    The next major space advances will come from Russia and China, as the US is pretty much useless now days.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    Uh....

    "...bachelor of science degree in electrical science from the United States Naval Academy in 1968, and a master of science in systems management from the University of Southern California in 1977"

    "...He flew more than 100 sorties into North and South Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, in the A-6A Intruder..."

    "...raduated from the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School at Patuxent River, Maryland, and was assigned to the Naval Air Test Center's Systems Engineering and Strike Aircraft Test Directorates"

    "...technical assignments included: Astronaut Office Safety Officer; Technical Assistant to the Director of Flight Crew Operations; Special Assistant to the Director of the Johnson Space Center; Astronaut Office Liaison to the Safety, Reliability and Quality Assurance Directorates of the Marshall Space Flight Center and the Kennedy Space Center; Chief of the Safety Division at JSC; Lead Astronaut for Vehicle Test and Checkout at the Kennedy Space Center; and Assistant Deputy Administrator, NASA Headquarters..."

    "...logged over 680 hours in space..."

    Yep, I wish I could suck as bad

  3. Martin Silver badge

    Yes it oes suck

    The state aim of Nasa is to advance scientific knowledge. Flying aging senators to LEO and back or taking historic basketballs and schoolkids drawings with them is not science.

    Their choice to have a ex-military, ex-astronaut as leader suggests that it is back to the 60s of having square jawed crew cut (although now racially diverse) heroes pointlessly going where everyone has gone before. In order to prove their superiority over 3rd world countries that merely efficiently and cheaply launch useful payloads.

    Being a war time pilot is not a basis for leading Nasa, anymore than it is for being president. The USSR chose it's political and industrial leaders on the basis of them having fought at Stalingrad - that worked out well for them.

  4. Andrew Fraser
    Flame

    @Uh

    Qualifications to be a pilot/Space Monkey != Qualifications to run a massive Science and engineering organization.

    NASA has a horrible reputation of going over budget, being expensive, and rockets exploding in space, on the way up, and on the way down.

    Pardon me if I am wrong, but these are Engineering and Project management issues.... Surely to make NASA what it was, or to get it to do more with less, you would appoint an Engineer/Project Manager?

    "...bachelor of science degree in electrical science from the United States Naval Academy in 1968, and a master of science in systems management from the University of Southern California in 1977"

    If you look at what that degree entails... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_management

    Congratu-freaking-lations.. your an IT Admin, Oh wait, that degree makes him an IT MANAGER, and we all know what the BOFH does to those.

    "...He flew more than 100 sorties into North and South Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, in the A-6A Intruder..."

    Congratulations, you have shown a skill for not being shot down/Blown up... that has nothing to do with managing complex engineering projects. It just means you managed to dodge enemy fire, and not die. Your still doing better than John McCain though.

    "...logged over 680 hours in space..."

    Congrats, you survived NASA's rocket program, and didn't die

    As for the technical assignments

    Astronaut Office Safety Officer; - They put him on a rocket, it didn't blow up, therefore its safe.

    Technical Assistant to the Director of Flight Crew Operations; - He fetched him coffee and scotch, helped him trim the budget, and bumlick senators

    Special Assistant to the Director of the Johnson Space Center; - See above

    Astronaut Office Liaison to the Safety Reliability and Quality Assurance Directorates of the Marshall Space Flight Center and the Kennedy Space Center; - Middle manager between the Astronaughts and the Bass.

    Chief of the Safety Division at JSC; - Middle manager charged with making sure fewer astronauts burned up on re entry

    Lead Astronaut for Vehicle Test and Checkout at the Kennedy Space Center; - Senior Crash test dummy.

    Assistant Deputy Administrator, NASA Headquarters... - He was a middle manager, most likely in cahoots with the bean counters.

    In summary, I see NO project management, engineering, or serious science in his background, I see a middle manager, who licked all the right bumholes.

  5. John
    Stop

    Engineer?

    Seriously, some of you guys expect an engineer to have the skills needed to run an organisation the size of NASA? Running NASA isn't an engineering problem, it's a management problem. Now, it's quite true that to do that job well you'll need engineering experience - but Bolden has that. It's true that you'll need a science background - but Bolden has that. It's true that you need experience of the space programme - but Bolden has that.

    Exactly what is the objection to this appointment? Or did you really expect an engineer with no management background to get the post?

This topic is closed for new posts.

Other stories you might like