An apparent clash over the role of advisers on the NASA Advisory Council led to the dismissal of two members of the council’s science committee and the resignation of a third in August, according to NAC chairman Harrison Schmitt and one of the affected scientists. The tension between NASA administrators and the scientists is centered on ongoing disputes at the space agency about the balance between the science and manned programs. Although NASA’s overall R&D funding is likely to increase by more than 7% in fiscal year 2007, virtually all of that increase is expected to go to developing new manned space vehicles. Science funding would stay flat, which follows sharp cuts that were made to the program last year.
NASA administrator Michael Griffin asked for the resignations of Wesley Huntress, a chemical physicist who spent much of his career at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, and physicist Eugene...
