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Goldin to Retire from NASA

Posted by michael on from the gone-fishing dept.

nervesmiffs writes: "Lots of people hated him. I believe he has been one of the truly great leaders of our time. He has completely turned NASA around during his 10 year tenure. Here's the retirement story." So if you were NASA's next director, what would you do with the agency? Men on Mars? Probes on Europa? Trans-warp drives?

3 of 429 comments (clear)

  1. Take Stephen Hawking's Advice by hether · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I would take Stephen Hawking's advice and work on a Star Trek style "warp drive" so that we can colonize space before the human race is wiped out.

    http://news.excite.com/news/r/011016/09/odd-hawkin g-dc

    --

    Most people would die sooner than think; in fact, they do.
  2. To Do List by Brian+Stretch · · Score: 5, Interesting

    1) Faster propulsion, and if that means nuclear powered engines, so be it.
    1a) Develop heavy lift capability.
    2) Develop tech necessary for colonization, and use the moon as a testbed.
    3) Do thorough study of the moon, manned study if necessary (probably is), in particular to find all water and mineable metals that may be there. Not to bring back to Earth, but so we won't need to transport them from Earth.
    4) Especially if #3 allows for the construction of spacecraft hulls, when 1-3 are done, head to Mars. Use tech from #1a to transport the machinery to equip the craft.

  3. My favorite quote about this... by devphil · · Score: 4, Interesting


    ...is one from Jerry Pournelle (who IIRC is/was the president of the citizen's space advisory council -- for a while they actually had people in Washington listening to them):

    I always knew I would live to see the first man on the moon. I never dreamed I would see the last.
    --
    You cannot apply a technological solution to a sociological problem. (Edwards' Law)