Fwd: John Kelly: NASA needs its swagger back

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From: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Date: August 11, 2013 1:55:53 PM GMT-06:00
To: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Subject: FW: John Kelly: NASA needs its swagger back

 

 

 

      Aug. 10, 2013 6:28 PM

John Kelly: NASA needs its swagger back

Sir Richard Branson holding the model of LauncherOne, in SpaceShipTwo.

Written by
John Kelly
Space

NASA needs some of what Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Sir Richard Branson bring to the table: gutsy, all-in leadership.

Don't get me wrong. I like Charlie Bolden, the former Marine turned astronaut who heads the agency. He's a good man who served his country with honor. He can tell you what's special about NASA and sell the virtues of exploration. But Bolden, and some of his senior leaders, seem stuck telling yesterday's version of the NASA story rather than tomorrow's. They're not breaking out of a mold constructed in the Cold War, slightly modified through the shuttle and space station eras, and now terribly outdated.

NASA got big. The innovative, beat-the-odds space agency got bogged down by two forces: the politically charged bureaucracy of Washington and its commitments to big legacy contractors of the military-industrial complex.

Perhaps NASA could cut loose those anchors, but that's not going to happen with the kind of appointees typically put in charge. Sean O'Keefe and Mike Griffin, the two men to hold the job before Bolden, were strong personalities. They couldn't break the cycle, either.

NASA needs a leader who will say what he or she thinks, do what is right, and not worry about squishing toes.

Musk of SpaceX, Bezos of Blue Origin, and Branson of Virgin Galactic, all have developed new space transportation systems while outside critics guffawed. Musk's company fielded a new rocket and a spaceship in less time, with less money, than NASA invested over several failed attempts to replace the shuttles with a new space transport. Bezos, of Amazon.com fame, is introducing an up-and-coming space vehicle of his own. Branson's just about to start carrying tourists on quarter-million-dollar a pop rides to space on SpaceShipTwo.

In each case, for years, many in the "old" space industry laughed them off, saying they couldn't do it, they'd fritter away their considerable fortunes, and look like fools in the process. Given the developments at each company over these last three years or so, I'd say I'd be a great deal more comfortable giving any of the three control over NASA's multi-billion dollar budget than I am with any recent agency chief.

The field-level troops within NASA, up through middle and in some cases senior management, are well-intentioned, super-talented people aiming to do big things in space exploration. They want to go places. They're capable of greatness.

 

They are our friends and neighbors here on Florida's Space Coast. They need inspired, can-do leadership — the brash, bold kind that put a man on the moon in the 1960s or (nowadays) built from scratch a wildly-successful online retailer capable of selling just about anything and putting it on your doorstep in two days. They need someone with a big enough personality to stand eye to eye withthe President of the United States and speak with authority on what needs to be done, how and when.

 

They need a bigger-than-life, bold and courageous thinker who is willing to stop trying to "get by" with stagnant budgets and keeping a bunch of outmoded legacy programs on life support.

 

NASA needs someone who starts the game over. It needs someone who can take the billions the space agency gets, set audacious goals and priorities, and build a team of leaders to get after it.

 

The departure of Lori Garver this week from the space agency is disappointing because she was one of the people trying to break NASA's mold, change it from within, and champion innovative projects such as the commercial cargo and crew ventures.

 

But it is not a one person job. It's a complete reprogramming of the agency's leadership.

 

NASA needs its swagger back and soon.

 

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