"Doug..." wrote in message ...
In article ,
says...
h (Rand Simberg) wrote in message . ..
That's the title of my latest column at Tech Central Station, in which
I discuss why the economics of OSP make no sense.

http://www.techcentralstation.com/091903E.html

With regard to your commments on the NASA "culture":

As a former employee of both NACA and NASA, I would
say, just compare how the two organizations operated.
NACA was always very decentralized with many small
projects--some of which competed directly with each
other. I remember working at Ames on a transsonic
research program that recovered a drop missile that
recorded data with optical levers, etc. Langley
had a similar program that used telemetry. They
would compare notes. There may have been some
friendly rivalry, but never plots to kill one
another off to gain complete control of the program.

I worked for the National Academy of Sciences before
and after Sputnik--and worked indirectly for both
Drs. Van Allen, Pickering (then head of JPL), and
Homer Newell (NRL).

There was a bill in Congress to make JPL NASA, and
another to make ABMA NASA. But NACA was so well
liked and respected--thanks in part to gentlemen
like Hugh Dryden and thanks in part to the NACA culture,
that Jim Van Allen (a later vociferous critic) and
others testified in favor of NACA getting the job--
primarily because, well, it was NACA.

In 1959 while at NASA Headquarters, some of my
colleagues from NACA Langley complained: "We used
to complain about the USAF bureaucracy, but we've
already gotten worse."

How do we go back? Perhaps an Advisory Committee
again, with no big fiefdoms. In order to avoid
the big fiefdoms, the new organization cannot have
any huge programs like ISS or Space Shuttle.
Apollo was an opportunity, a trap, and an anomaly.
Apollo should not be part of the discussion. This
does not mean that NASA could not do things like
a manned Mars mission or a return to the moon. I
think the odds of something like that happening
would actually better with an NACA culture and a
robust commmercial space transportaion industry.

Best regards,
Len (Cormier)
PanAero, Inc. and Third Millennium Aerospace, Inc.
( http://www.tour2space.com )

Len, your occasional comments here are always intriguing. You were in
the midst of people and organizations that were making history. Have you
ever considered writing a book of your own?

Thanks. I was young at the time and had a fly-on-the-wall
status--which was quite interesting, I admit. However, I
am too busy right now still trying to make something
happen on my own.

Best regards,
Len (Cormier)
PanAero, Inc. and Third Millennium Aerospace, Inc.
( http://www.tour2space.com )