Dan Goldin, NASA’s longest-serving chief administrator, announced his resignation in mid-October, just days before the results of an investigation into cost overruns of the International Space Station (ISS) were made public. In November, he joined the Council on Competitiveness, a group based in Washington, DC, that promotes American economic and business leadership.
Goldin is widely credited with revitalizing enthusiasm for space science exploration both within NASA and among the public (see April 2001, page 25). He was instrumental in getting NASA to consider innovative technological solutions in an agency that was still reeling from the aftereffects of the 1986 Challenger disaster. But he’s probably best known for his mantra “faster, cheaper, better,” which translates into a push to switch from costly spacecraft that took years to develop to smaller, more focused missions that could be launched for under $500 million within 18 months of receiving funding approval. The Lunar Prospector, Deep Space 1, and the 1997 Mars Pathfinder missions are examples.
Goldin’s departure comes on the cusp of NASA’s biggest-ever financial crisis. The ISS is projected to be $4.8 billion over budget, the human spaceflight program faces a $1 billion shortfall in its budget for next year, and a $500 million overrun in NASA’s 1999 budget was discovered this fall. In response, this year NASA slashed 40% from the ISS science budget and reduced the space station’s crew from seven to three.
Further fixes will follow from the ISS management and cost evaluation task force report, ordered by Goldin this past July to get the ISS back on track without new money. The task force recommends that NASA slash jobs and, to avoid future cost overruns, that the agency adopt strict accounting methods.
NASA’s top job is proving hard to fill—by early November, an appointment by President Bush had been imminent for months. It was well known that Goldin didn’t want to leave NASA, but the Bush administration had given him no indication that it wanted him to stay. Courtney Stadd, one of Goldin’s possible successors and NASA’s chief of staff, is temporarily running the day-to-day operations.
Meanwhile, north of the border, Marc Garneau has been appointed president of the Canadian Space Agency. Garneau, Canada’s first astronaut, has a bachelor’s degree in engineering physics and a PhD in engineering. The CSA’s annual budget of Can$300 million ($188 million) is just 1.5% of NASA’s. Since 1999 the CSA has emphasized terrestrial applications, such as remote sensing, and closer strategic links among government, academia, and industry. Garneau succeeds Mac Evans, who retired after 35 years at the agency.
