Bush Nominates TRW Executive to Head NASA

President Bush on Wednesday nominated TRW executive Daniel S. Goldin to lead the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, signaling what many space policy experts see as a move toward a more dollar- and schedule-conscious space program.

The nomination surprised many in Washington, where it prompted some concern in Congress that the National Space Council, chaired by Vice President Dan Quayle, is solidifying its influence over space policy after engineering the resignation last month of Richard H. Truly, the former astronaut who was NASA administrator.

The nomination requires Senate approval, and Sen. Albert Gore Jr. (D-Tenn.), who chairs the Senate subcommittee responsible for acting on it, said Goldin will receive “serious scrutiny.” Gore said he has “strong concerns” about the influence of the space council. Truly’s bitter battles with the council over the future of the space program apparently were the impetus for his departure.

“I don’t want a group of unelected staff members of the vice president making the daily decisions at NASA,” Gore said. “. . . If Goldin has given assurances that he will do that, I want to know about it.” Gore said he wants to hold the confirmation hearing in the next few weeks.

Goldin will likely “change the whole culture” at NASA, said Rep. George E. Brown Jr. (D-Colton), who heads the House Space, Science and Technology Committee. “I think that’s what he was brought in to do.”

Analysts said they expect less emphasis on the space shuttle, a favorite of Truly’s. A veteran of two shuttle flights, Truly had concentrated on resuscitating the program after the 1986 Challenger explosion. The shuttles have not lived up to financial expectations.

Goldin declined to be interviewed Wednesday, but he has been described in a technical publication as “a fierce advocate” of a manned mission to Mars, which has been an important objective of the Bush Administration, despite its tremendous cost.

He also helped prepare a key position paper by the American Astronautical Society, a leading industry group, that said an orbiting space station should be “the lead in our manned space priorities,” although a co-author said Goldin thought the controversial project was not well-defined.

Truly was also a champion of the proposed space station, although its cost estimates have climbed from $8 billion to at least $40 billion.

The astronautical society paper, sent to Quayle in 1990, also calls for setting up a private company to take charge of certain space operations and equipment, such as launching facilities, that the government could use. In addition, the report recommended closer relations between NASA and the aerospace industry.

Space experts on and off Capitol Hill were scrambling Wednesday for information about Goldin, a Manhattan Beach resident who is a registered Democrat.

“He has a remarkably low policy profile,” said John M. Logsdon, director of George Washington University’s Space Policy Institute. “Nobody knows him.”

Brown said he had not heard of Goldin until he received biographical information from the White House. “On paper,” Brown said, “he looks good.”

He added: “I have a sort of nostalgic attitude about NASA. I love astronauts, and Truly was the kind of a guy that I related well to. But (Goldin) has the benefit of an industry perspective, which I think could be very helpful at this particular time. . . . We’re facing real trouble with funding.”

By law, the White House-based National Space Council has the responsibility for setting space policy. Before Bush became President, however, the council largely left decisions in NASA’s hands.

Goldin, 51, has spent 30 years in the aerospace industry. His first job, at NASA’s Lewis Research Center near Cleveland, was to design a propulsion system that could send eight astronauts to Mars.

He joined the TRW Systems Group in 1967, continuing to concentrate on the feasibility of interplanetary travel. In 1987, he was named vice president and general manager of TRW’s Space and Technology Group in Redondo Beach.

During his tenure, the space group built 13 spacecraft that are currently operating in orbit. Other group projects include NASA’s Gamma Ray Observatory, U.S. Air Force early warning satellites, NASA’s Advanced X-Ray Astrophysics Facility and the space-based portions of the planned Strategic Defense Initiative, known as Brilliant Pebbles and Brilliant Eyes.

Goldin’s extensive defense-industry experience is an asset, Brown said, because “there was some feeling that many of NASA’s problems come from inadequate relations with the contractor.” He cited the flawed Hubble Space Telescope, which is plagued by a mirror that was incorrectly ground.

Added John Sand, president of the American Astronautical Society: “I think it’s very valuable to have someone like him leading an agency where completing projects on schedule and on budget has become very important. I think he’s going to bring a sense of reality to the agency.”

Goldin and former AAS president E. Larry Leacock collaborated on the society’s report to Quayle on the subject of “The U.S. Competitive Position in Space.”

The report recommended reducing costs for infrastructure, about 65% of planned space expenses into the next century, by forming a private company to oversee common launch support facilities, launch vehicles and other equipment that could be used by industry, NASA and the military.

Goldin’s “vision was that we needed to have a definite goal, a definite plan and then go do it,” Leacock said. Rekindling the public’s lost excitement over space and a revival of math and science education are also important to Goldin, he added.

Wolfgang Demisch, aerospace analyst at UBS Securities in New York, said he was hopeful that Goldin could improve NASA’s sense of “economic mission,” noting that France now launches more than 50% of the world’s commercial satellites.

“From the national perspective, that is an indictment,” Demisch said. “Here we spend more on space than the rest of the world combined and the French run rings around us.”

Times staff writer Ralph Vartabedian contributed to this story.

Profile: Daniel S. Goldin

Born: July 23, 1940, in New York City

Hometown: Manhattan Beach

Education: Bachelor of science degree in engineering, City College of New York, 1962. Executive Management Program, UCLA, 1982.

Career highlights: Began career as a research scientist as NASA’s Lewis Research Center near Cleveland, working on propulsion systems for human interplanetary travel. . . . Joined the TRW Systems Group in 1967. . . . In 1970, began working on the NASA communication systems satellite. . . . Named vice president and general manager of the TRW Space and Technology Group in 1987. During his tenure, the group built 13 spacecraft, all still in orbit.