George William Herbert ) wrote:
: Eric Chomko wrote:
: George William Herbert ) wrote:
: : : Eric Chomko wrote:
: : : Ever since the Republican takeover in Congress NASA HQ seems to have less
: : : clout and JSC more. Just an observation.
: [bunch of 90s stuff deleted]

: If Bush is serious about his new space initiative, then some of the
: traditional work that centers do should change and allow the centers other
: than manned missions, planning (MSFC), launch (KSC) and operations (JSC)
: in, and now.

: If you had made your post two years ago, I'd be agreeing
: with you, but times they are a changin'.

: At the risk of repeating myself:

: : Office of Exploration Systems is not at JSC. It's at HQ.
:
: : No JSC managed manned space project has future growth planned.
: : Shuttle is being retired, and ISS is going to be built out
: : and operated, period.
:
: : OExS could get moved to a center... there's always a risk of
: : that happening. But it hasn't and shows no sign of happening.


: O'Keefe stuck OExS at HQ. Steidle hasn't done any different.

: And there it remains.

: Unless something catastrophic happens, in the NASA world,
: OExS is the future. The direction has changed.

The problem is that each center's role in the manned space program focus
hasn't been clear. JPL is just doing too well with the recent successes to
not continue to get work. The three southern centers, who's main focus is
manned spaceflight, will fair well, too.

: What centers OExS draws upon, and allows to be part
: of the new activities, is still up in the air as far
: as I know. There is no sign that they're slotting into
: the old mold, and lots of indication that OExS is staying
: independent to NOT fall into the old center-based organizational
: and structural traps.

: The particular claim you started with... JSC having gained
: clout relative to HQ, etc... was true in the90s. But then
: it stopped being true about when OExS was set up, which
: has been almost a year now. Regardless of who was responsible
: for the JSC focus in the 90s (and 80s, and...), it's not
: true anymore. O'Keefe seems to have understood what was
: wrong, set up a structure for Steidle to run the
: Exploration branch completely outside the old broken
: structure, and let Steidle run with the ball.

: And they're running.

: I expect that, 20 year from now, we'll look back on O'Keefe's
: tenure and remember three things:
: - He was the poor SOB at the helm when Columbia was lost
: - He helped lead NASA into the Exploration Initiative and chart that
: - He set up Exploration Systems separate from the Centers and let it go

: My hope is that the latter two will be very positive memories.
: Despite his short tenure, I think that time and the tide of history
: will show that the changes he was able to make have probably been
: what allowed NASA a fighting chance at reform to stay relevant
: in the 21st century, and that he will be remembered as one of
: NASA's premiere administrators of all time.

Okay, all that aside what is your prediction about GSFC's role in the new
space initiative era?

Eric

: -george william herbert
: