Brian Thorn wrote:
About the only part of it that still does competent work is JPL and its
unmanned space probes.

How far is Curiosity overbudget and behind schedule again?

They did botch it with that one, but that was because they got carried
away with making it into some sort of atomic super rover rather than
just a step up from the MER's.
It was also dumb to just build one MSL and have all their eggs in one
basket if it crashes on landing.
Still, compared to NASA's manned efforts since the Shuttle, the unmanned
spacecraft have been doing very well indeed - with the MER's ranking
right up there with the Voyagers as our most successful spacecraft ever.

Pat