NASA - Dan Goldin stepping down

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Isn't this the ex-CIA guy (or intelligence/black ops equivalent) that Hoagland rails against so much?

http://www.boston.com/dailynews/290/nation/NASA_s_longest_serving_boss_re:.shtml

NASA's longest-serving boss resigning after 10 years: 'It's time'

By Marcia Dunn, Associated Press, 10/17/2001 18:42

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) Daniel Goldin, who espoused a leaner, meaner space agency, said Wednesday he will resign from NASA next month after nearly 10 years in the top job.

The longest-serving administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration will leave in mid-November with a record of 160 successful space missions, 11 failures including back-to-back Mars flops and an international space station that is now permanently occupied.

Goldin sent a letter of resignation to President Bush Wednesday morning, then announced the news to NASA's 18,000-plus employees in a speech that was televised at the nation's space centers. Many were surprised at the timing, although not by the departure itself, which had been rumored ever since Bush took office.

''I just think that you're the greatest, everybody in this audience,'' said Goldin, sitting on the edge of an auditorium stage.

''I had a lease on the program. I'm handing the lease back on November 17th,'' he added with emotion. ''There will be good people who will come behind.''

Goldin, 61, who left the aerospace industry in spring 1992 to head NASA, said he wants to spend more time with his wife, daughters and grandchildren and, eventually, move from Washington back to Southern California.

''It's time'' to leave, he said, but added that the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 played into his decision.

He said he heard the airliner crash into the Pentagon, 1½ miles from his office at NASA headquarters, and felt ''very vulnerable, also very angry.'' But what really got to him, he said, was going to New York City last week and seeing what was left of the World Trade Center.

''Like many American families, you ask yourself, `What are you working for?''' he told reporters, adding that he often put in 18-hour workdays. ''I find that I get such intellectual satisfaction and such personal satisfaction from the job, that it drives me. But on the other hand, when all gets said and done, if I do have a family and I don't interact with them, what have I accomplished in my life? My life was out of balance.''

At a meeting of space station researchers in Cape Canaveral, a few hundred attendees gathered around a television in a conference center to watch Goldin's farewell speech. More than a few participants, including NASA officials, declined to comment on his departure.

''He was effective in some areas and less effective in others,'' said Samuel Durrance, executive director of the Florida Space Research Institute and a two-time space flier.

Just the day before, the head of NASA's space flight office, Joseph Rothenberg, announced that he would be retiring on Dec. 15. Goldin insisted the two departures were unrelated and had nothing to do with NASA's $4.5 billion overrun in the space station program.

Goldin said the space shuttle program is safer now than it was when he was appointed NASA administrator in April 1992 by President Bush's father, and at the same time operates more cheaply.

''I've been administrator, I think, for 57 shuttle launches, more than half of the whole series of launches, and we've never had any serious injury. The shuttle has gotten better and better,'' he told employees.

Goldin noted that NASA has launched 171 spacecraft during his tenure, with only 11 lost.

''The total loss in dollars is about a half-billion dollars, and we launched $23 billion into space. And I think about the ruckus. You know, ohhh, we lost a few little spacecraft on Mars.'' In a high-pitched, squeaky voice he added: ''Cute, little, itty, bitty spacecraft.'' NASA employees laughed.

''That's OK,'' he added. ''It's really OK, and I made a promise when I came here. I take personal responsibility for the failures and everyone else can get accolades for the success. That's the job of the administrator.''

Even with the Mars failures, Goldin said, the space agency is better off in every aspect than when he arrived. His brightest moment as NASA administrator was putting ''a contact lens'' on the Hubble Space Telescope in 1993 and restoring its vision, despite skeptics who didn't think the space agency could pull off the mission.

The worst moment, he said, was realizing the space agency would not be sending astronauts to Mars for a long, long time, ''and that has been the love of my life.''

''I feel highly frustrated and I feel my life won't be complete until America lands an astronaut on the surface of Mars,'' he said.

Goldin has accepted an interim position as a senior fellow for the Council on Competitiveness in Washington. He plans to eventually get back into private business as long as he has weekends and holidays off to spend with his family.

-- Anonymous, October 17, 2001


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