DOES NASA鈥檚 probable new boss have the right stuff to put the agency back on track?
Former space shuttle pilot Charles Bolden was this week expected to be nominated as NASA administrator, with a resum茅 that combines advocacy for the agency鈥檚 scientific work with experience as an astronaut.
He will take over an organisation in trouble on two fronts. Future US human space exploration will rely on the Ares 1 rocket, which is meant to replace the shuttle, but Ares is dogged by technical problems. Meanwhile NASA鈥檚 science programme is suffering from cuts made two years ago to pay for Ares.
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NASA is trying to do too much with a budget so tight that 鈥渓ittle or nothing can be done well鈥�, warns Eugene Levy, a space scientist at Rice University in Houston, Texas. Bolden seems to agree. Three years ago, he told a Senate subcommittee that working within NASA鈥檚 budget was 鈥渓ike trying to fit 15 pounds of stuff into a 5-pound sack鈥�.
He called for more money to avoid proposed cuts in science spending. 鈥淗uman exploration and science research are necessarily parallel endeavours,鈥� he said. Bolden also served on a that in 2004 to the Hubble telescope (see right).
鈥淗uman exploration and science research are necessarily parallel endeavours鈥�
Bolden is well connected with the aerospace establishment and has held various posts in industry. Yet these ties might be a hindrance when deciding whether to ditch Ares 1 in favour of privately developed launchers, suggests aerospace analyst Charles Lurio.
Bolden has also served briefly as assistant deputy administrator of NASA. 鈥淐harlie Bolden is a good guy 鈥� friendly, outgoing, well-liked and respected,鈥� says John Logsdon of the National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC. 鈥淗e will do well on Capitol Hill and with the public.鈥�
