BrianM

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• Commented on NOAA Employees Have More Freedom to Speak Than NASA Employees

  Maybe you are right and maybe I am being too critical. Name me some of those great project managers, the successful projects they managed, and their leadership positions today....

• Commented on NOAA Employees Have More Freedom to Speak Than NASA Employees

  Frankly, most of the people I've seen promoted into management in recent years have not been great or even competent project managers, and many have not been competent technically at all. Few have demonstrated leadership skills of any kind. Most...

• Commented on NOAA Employees Have More Freedom to Speak Than NASA Employees

  ...for that they have to show that you've not been doing what they've directed you to do... So many of the management are so insecure because they have no clue what people ought to be doing. To understand what people...

• Commented on NASA Announces Next SpaceX Dragon Mission to ISS

  Godspeed Space-X. In many ways the future of American spaceflight rests on your spacecraft and this mission....

• Commented on Neil Tyson: Misquoted or Missing The Point?

  Your numbers are a bit off. Augustine said that, at the rate NASA was spending money, it would need an additional $3billion per year. But NASA's budget, if equivalent to the 1960s, would not be ten times its current amount-not...

• Commented on The Long Confusing Path Toward Space Station Utilization

  There are some pretty neat facilities designed and launched for ISS by the Europeans and Japanese. I wonder whether anyone in the US is using our partner's world-class facilities? Yes, we're doing some more flames in zero-g, plant growth, cell...

• Commented on Neil Tyson: Misquoted or Missing The Point?

  I'd never heard his comment about Apollo being the militarization of the space program before. Actually it was just the opposite. Other government organizations (DOD) were vying for the lead for human space flight and most had truly military schemes...

• Commented on Video: ISS Flies Over Earth Accompanied by Peter Gabriel

  Pretty pictures, though probably a few minutes too long to hold most people's interest. This is about as exciting as the NASA human space flight program will be for the next decade; we probably don't need to expend all of...

• Commented on Clay Anderson: Too Honest for NASA?

  In many respects Administrator Griffin showed the way in a limited sense. He chose an idea and said 'this is what we will do'. He defined a program, chose a direction and made a decision. Where he went wrong: He...

• Commented on Clay Anderson: Too Honest for NASA?

  There is interest in Congress in the space program strategy. Its obvious since Congress has implemented a program to build an MPCV and SLS. Some of the interest is from long time supporters like Nelson in Florida and Hutchison in...

• Commented on Clay Anderson: Too Honest for NASA?

  There is interest in Congress in the space program strategy. Its obvious since Congress has implemented a program to build an MPCV and SLS. Some of the interest is from long time supporters like Nelson in Florida and Hutchison in...

• Commented on Clay Anderson: Too Honest for NASA?

  No one can unilaterally define and implement a plan including a NASA Administrator or the President. But first you have to have a plan. Then you have to gain the support for it and you do that by defining the...

• Commented on Clay Anderson: Too Honest for NASA?

  I have not heard, at least since Mike Griffin, anyone from NASA say "this is what we believe is the right plan". The White House did not try to put a plan in place-not this White House. Their plan was...

• Commented on SpaceX's Secret Sauce

  Not only is there no incentive for the companies and stakeholders making the big bucks to reduce costs to their customer, there is no incentive for the government and particularly the government managers to reduce costs, so long as the...

• Commented on Clay Anderson: Too Honest for NASA?

  Personally I agree with pretty much everything Clay has to say. I do not know for sure if a moon return, an asteroid, or a Mars mission or some other scenario makes sense first. I would be happy if a...

• Commented on Former Astronauts Make A Case For Commercial Crew

  NASA's cost for civil servant salaries is actually relatively small. I dont know the exact number but based on headcount its probably $1.5 billion out of the total almost $19 billion budget, so less than 10%. So letting a substantial...

• Commented on Apollo on Truth Serum - Not Steroids

  At a Q&A the other day of most of the center directors, I think it was Cabana who said that in 10 years they should be flying Orion and SLS; it should be ready by then. He added that maybe...

• Commented on Former Astronauts Make A Case For Commercial Crew

  Not necessarily. NASA has been getting good and steady support, including for funding the last couple of years. The country and Congress want to invest a small amount in the future. All of NASA's budget is not a huge amount...

• Commented on Former Astronauts Make A Case For Commercial Crew

  You guys are right. And it happened this year. This country, with NASA's support and urging, literally shut down the world's first class space program in favor of no planned program. We'd better get behind the commercial guys because that...

• Commented on First Orion Flight in 2014?

  The only need for Orion is to keep people working and a contract in place. Apollo-style throw the entire spacecraft away missions will never be sustainable and supportable, and if we are only doing one every six months or a...

• Commented on What Would Wernher Do? What DID He Do?

  Another big change was the role of the center versus the role of the program office in the earlier programs and today, especially at MSC/JSC. In the 1960s the center designed and built the spacecraft and the program office managed...

• Commented on NASA's Perception of Size and Commerce

  Its a team effort and no man is an island. Gerstenmier had enough power, authority, knowledge, support and voice both inside and outside that he could have and should have been putting the right ideas to his bosses, and into...

• Commented on Video: Start Your Day With A Cosmic Bang

  The video is pretty neat, but I'm not sure exactly what it has to do with NASA. The photos of the electric rover under the sky are pretty neat too. But again other than the coolness, I am not sure...

• Commented on IG Asked To Do Investigation on Political Bias Inside NASA

  Steve-I thinking you are reading into a lot of the words and your own interpretations, a simpleminded-ness and naivete and just flat out wrong. First, NASA workers are civil servants. They work for and are agents of the Federal government....

• Commented on An Amazing NASA Photo You Won't See on NASA.gov (Update)

  "It's extremely backwards looking to think that all opportunities to publicize NASA experiences have to funnel through a federal bureaucracy." Several years ago, under OKeefe, NASA Headquarters tried to put in place a review process to coordinate publications in order...

• Commented on Yet Another Stealth Website NASA Can't Coordinate

  tinker is unfortunately correct in a lot of his observations. Basically it boils down to NASA has a lot of really great material but there web design is generally hodge podge, not in keeping with anyone's standards, not coordinated amongst...

• Commented on Fuel Depots and Congress

  Not pointless at all; it is the heart of the issue. NASA's job is to lead civilian human space. NASA is part and parcel of the Administration and the Federal Government. They've not identified a sensible path or plan. If...

• Commented on Fuel Depots and Congress

  NASA ....has been royally abused by the federal government. NASA is the Federal Government....

• Commented on Fuel Depots and Congress

  “Yes, Mr. Bolden, you do need some discipline, and that discipline starts with laying out your agency's goals and plans.” "That sentence would be great if, indeed, it was within the Administrator's power to do so, but he is unfortunately...

• Commented on Houston Takes Another Shot at New York Over Shuttle Exhibit

  "Houston's main role is to train and support the astronauts and their pioneering of space." You seem to have forgotten that before it was the Johnson Space Center, it was the Manned Spacecraft Center, and that Houston has led the...