Ο Obama σκέφτεται να "ψαλιδίσει" τον προϋπολογισμό της NASA, λόγω της οικονομικής κρίσης, θέτοντας σε κίνδυνο την επιστροφή των Αμερικανών στην Σελήνη και προκαλώντας την οργή του Διευθυντή της Αμερικανικής Διαστημικής Υπηρεσίας...
John F Kennedy famously pledged Americans would walk on the moon before the Soviets. But for Barack Obama – so often compared to JFK – a return to the moon may be a frontier too far in these tough economic times.
To the consternation of Nasa's chiefs, Mr Obama has sent a six-member team – all with space policy backgrounds – to see if money can be saved by trimming its planned space exploration programme. A shouting match that allegedly erupted between the head of Nasa and members of the Obama transition team at a book launch party last week has added to the tensions. Behind that row is a Nasa administrator, Mike Griffin, a Bush appointee, who is desperately trying to save his signature project, the delayed and over budget moon-rocket Constellation programme. It had been boosted by the 2004 decision by President George Bush that he wanted American astronauts back on the moon by 2020 as the first leg of a mission to colonise Mars.
But Nasa's human space flight programme is again under its biggest threat since the Apollo era ended in the 1970s. The space shuttle is soon to be retired and there will be at least a five-year gap before the next-generation Constellation rockets are ready in 2015. One of the first questions asked by the transition team was how much could be saved by cancelling plans for a new rocket, the Ares 1, designed specifically for sending humans into space. Mr Griffin apparently believes that simply upgrading existing rockets could put astronauts' lives in danger.
According to an account in the Orlando Sentinel, a red-faced Mr Griffin erupted during a discussion at the book launch, accusing Lori Garver, Mr Obama's transition team emissary of not being "qualified" to judge his programme. Ms Garver is a former senior Nasa administrator but is not an engineer. She will be key, however, in deciding if Mr Griffin keeps his position at the agency.
Witnesses to the heated 40-minute conversation said that Mr Griffin voiced his anger at the fact that Mr Obama had not spoken to him directly. Ms Garver intervened to say: "Mike, I don't understand what the problem is. We are just trying to look under the hood."
"If you are looking under the hood, then you are calling me a liar," Mr Griffin replied. "Because it means you don't trust what I say is under the hood."
Over the past few weeks review panels have been dispatched by Mr Obama to scrutinise government agencies. Though sent to smooth the transition between administrations, they have come with long lists of questions as they look to root out wasteful or over budget programmes.
According to emails obtained by the Orlando Sentinel, Nasa began leaning on its contractors to stonewall the transition team by saying any change would cast Nasa in a bad light. "If Nasa appears to be wavering by not staying the course ... this would cause a loss of public and stakeholder confidence," one email stated.
Mr Griffin has denied obstructing the team. "We are fully co-operating with the team members," he wrote in an email to Nasa employees. Associates also said the exchange with Ms Garver at the book launch was not an argument but "a discussion about stuff".
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