NASA鈥檚 next leader must wholeheartedly back the US president鈥檚 space plan 鈥� which focuses on human space flight 鈥� says departing boss Sean O鈥橩eefe. He dismisses criticisms that the plan may force cuts to pure science missions, saying that funding every programme across the board is a 鈥渞ecipe for mediocrity鈥�.
O鈥橩eefe, who resigned on Monday, discussed the future direction of the agency and reflected on his tumultuous three-year tenure at a press conference on Friday.
In January 2004, president George W Bush announced his 鈥淰ision for Space Exploration鈥�, which involves retiring the space shuttles after the International Space Station is completed 鈥� around 2010 鈥� and later sending humans to the Moon, Mars and possibly beyond.
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O鈥橩eefe said the ability to embrace that plan was the single most important quality his successor should have. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a very good strategy laid out, a clear game plan. Supporting that game plan is clearly something the president intends to seek [in the next administrator],鈥� he said.
But it remains unclear what that plan will mean for future basic science missions. Some astronomers have expressed concern that, in the 2005 budget, many such missions, like the one to explore the nature of dark energy, were either delayed or cancelled. O鈥橩eefe responded by saying that funding every program would mean 鈥渘othing excels much鈥�.
Hubble trouble
O鈥橩eefe also held firm on another controversial issue. He said NASA should continue to pursue a robotic repair mission for the ailing Hubble Space Telescope rather than using astronauts, in defiance of a recent report by independent experts. The report said a robotic mission had a high chance of failing because the technology it depends on is complex and untested.
鈥淭he argument is that this is something that has never been done before 鈥� that describes what NASA has done for 45 years,鈥� O鈥橩eefe said.
He added that a robotic mission is needed to de-orbit the telescope anyway, and said the agency should wait for the results of robotic design reviews in March and August 2005 before ruling it out.
O鈥橩eefe has led NASA through other difficult issues. Appointed in 2001 to clean up NASA鈥檚 spending excesses and accounting problems, he switched the multi-centre agency to a single accounting system and eliminated $5 billion in budget overruns 鈥� a process he dubbed 鈥渉ellacious鈥�.
Cultural problems
But in February 2003 he was at the helm when seven astronauts died as the shuttle Columbia exploded re-entering the Earth鈥檚 atmosphere. Some observers have said that O鈥橩eefe inherited cultural problems 鈥� such as putting scheduling pressures above safety 鈥� that led to the disaster.
But Hans Mark, NASA鈥檚 deputy administrator from 1981 to 1984 who oversaw the first 14 shuttle launches, disagrees. 鈥淥f course he had responsibility 鈥� the captain of the ship is always responsible.鈥� Mark opposes the delegation of safety issues to a special officer, begun after the Challenger disaster in 1986, and says the administrator must set the tone for making safety the agency鈥檚 top priority.
O鈥橩eefe鈥檚 next job will be to lead the main campus of Louisiana State University. The Louisiana native said he was looking forward to the task and said it was 鈥渁n opportunity, quite frankly, to go home鈥�.
In his resignation letter he had said he was leaving government service to provide his three teenage children the opportunity 鈥渢o pursue higher education without the crushing burden of debt thereafter鈥�. His new position reportedly pays $500,000 per year.
