Big NASA Cuts May Include One of Agency’s 10 Centers

NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin said Friday that the space agency will undergo a major restructuring that will have a broad impact on government and aerospace industry employment, as well as possibly shutting one of the agency’s 10 centers.

Goldin said he had no estimate as to how many jobs would be affected, although at one point in an interview with reporters he remarked that NASA will have thousands fewer employees.

Although NASA began the decade planning for an annual budget of $25 billion to $40 billion, it will end the 1990s with annual spending of $13 billion after additional recent cuts were ordered, Goldin said. It means NASA has to slim down quickly, he said.

Although the aerospace industry has undergone a painful restructuring to cut factory space and reduce employment, NASA is still operating all of its 10 major space and aeronautics centers that were established during the Cold War.

Goldin said the agency will reshuffle missions to eliminate overlapping functions and will close many smaller facilities whose work can be consolidated into that of the major centers. But after doing all that, “If it is necessary to eliminate a center, we will do it,” he said.

Although a center closure is “on the table,” Goldin said he did not think it will be necessary. A decision will be made later this year. Goldin said he has the legal authority to order the closing and will not use an independent commission to do the job, as was established to order closure of military bases.

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena was rated very poorly by Goldin in previous years and in an interview a year ago he said the center rated less than a B grade for its work. But on Friday, Goldin said the center has had a big turnaround in its performance and is now “leading the charge” in defining the new NASA style of keeping costs low and scientific output high.

Nonetheless, Goldin declined to cite any of the 10 centers that would be vulnerable or immune to closure.

On another topic, Goldin said that recent friction in relations with Russia should not derail the international space station project.