Ares Manager Steve Cook Resigns From NASA

FleaPlus writes "Steve Cook, project manager for the Ares I-X, Ares I, and Ares V rockets, announced that he will resign from NASA MSFC after 19 years at the agency, leaving for an executive position at Dynetics, Inc. This raises doubts about the future of the Ares program, which has been plagued with development problems and massive cost/schedule overruns since its inception. Steve Cook also oversaw the (since discredited) 2005 ESAS study which scrapped NASA's prior plans to adapt already-existing commercial rockets for human/beyond-LEO exploration in favor of internally developing the Ares rockets."

Comments

Re:One Person is not a Program

[wasted]

If that is the case, then NASA really needs to work on hiring and/or training more Program Managers.

Sorry, I don't think feeding the giant bureaucracy that NASA has become will get the results we want. Here's my manned space program:

      1. Take the money NASA gets for manned space and give it to Burt Rutan.
      2. Tell Burt to get people into orbit and to the Moon.
      3. Stand back.

Burt's company is Scaled Composites . I don't think I would trust a flight to the Moon and back, and more importantly, reentry, to a composite craft. On the other hand, if Burt thinks he can do it, he could pitch it to NASA - Dryden is just a short drive from his shop.