NASA’s Goldin Doubtful His Voyage at Agency Will Continue

After nearly nine years as the head of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration during which he oversaw a massive overhaul of a once bloated and aimless agency, Administrator Daniel S. Goldin is mulling over an uncertain future.

It is the first time since being appointed to what he called a dream job in April 1992 by then-President Bush that Goldin has expressed doubt about his future at NASA, where he emboldened the agency with a controversial mantra for reform: “faster, better and cheaper.”

Goldin leaves a long list of significant accomplishments: successful explorations of the solar system, an international space station that is now permanently occupied and an unblemished record of safe space shuttle operations.

Yet, he would leave with the U.S. aerospace industry still badly lagging Europe in the space launch business and feeling tremendous new competitive pressures in the commercial aircraft market.

President-elect George W. Bush has not yet asked Goldin, the longest-serving NASA administrator, to continue running the space agency, and Goldin said he doesn’t know whether he would accept if an offer is made.

“I have no idea what I’ll do,” Goldin said in an interview. “My wife and I went skiing over Christmas and started talking about it, and the trouble with this job is it leaves you very little time to think. I just don’t know what I’ll be doing.”

Several space analysts and consultants said that the Bush transition team has been searching for a replacement who would bring “fresh leadership” to the agency and be loyal to the president-elect. They also said Goldin’s long-term vision for NASA--a man on Mars and search for life in space--could conflict with Bush’s agenda for a space-based missile defense system.

Among names that have been mentioned are A. Thomas Young, former chief executive of Martin Marietta, now Lockheed Martin, who chaired the review of the back-to-back Mars probe failures in 1999; Joseph H. Rothenberg, associate administrator in charge of NASA’s manned spaceflights; and Harrison Schmitt, a former Apollo astronaut and U.S. senator from New Mexico.

“From what I’ve heard, he’s likely to leave,” said Marshall Kaplan, a longtime space consultant in Potomac, Md.

When Goldin came to NASA, he wanted revolutionary changes at the agency, which by the early 1990s had become moribund and was still reeling from the 1986 space shuttle Challenger disaster that killed seven astronauts.

With a hard-charging, brash style that repelled some longtime employees, Goldin “cleaned house” and refocused the agency from launching large-scale space projects that were prone to huge cost overruns and lengthy delays to development of smaller, manageable spacecraft and programs.

He promised to cut costs, turn bureaucrats into innovators and reinvigorate the agency with a new sense of mission. For the most part, Goldin has accomplished what he set out to do, space analysts and consultants said.

There were notable exceptions. The failure of the two Mars probes in 1999 was blamed on the faster, better, cheaper mantra, which had left the Mars program thinly staffed and overworked. Goldin took the blame.

“They didn’t fail. I failed them for pushing them too hard,” Goldin said.

But Goldin has no apologies, noting emphatically during an interview this week--including pounding on the table as he is prone to do--that all three goals are being met.

Goldin, armed with charts, said that when he first arrived at NASA the average spacecraft cost about $600 million and took eight years to build, which meant that between 1990 and 1994 there were going to be only two launches a year. Now, he says, it costs about $200 million for a spacecraft that takes about five years to develop. And between 2001 and 2004, 11 will be launched annually.

He also points to the success of the Mars Pathfinder, which sent back to Earth stunning pictures of the planet and raised prospects that life may have existed on the barren landscape. And in one of the more celebrated missions of Goldin’s tenure, Sen. John Glenn, the first U.S. astronaut to orbit the Earth, returned to space.

Although now considered one of the most influential administrators NASA has ever had, he has made many enemies with his in-your-face leadership style.

Goldin’s outbursts have been legendary. After weathering his 15th vote in Congress to cancel funding for the space station--it eventually survived 22 decisions--Goldin blurted publicly that all the votes were “enough to make you want to puke.”

He is brash, blunt and isn’t shy about harshly criticizing people to their face, but Goldin has never apologized for it, saying, “That’s just the way I am.”

But in doing so, Goldin rubbed many NASA old-timers the wrong way, employees who were already resistant to having an outsider named to head the agency. Although Goldin maintains that no one was laid off, droves of senior engineers left. Through attrition, Goldin slashed NASA’s payroll from about 24,000 in 1992 to 18,000 today.

“My job is to be the irritant that causes people to dream that causes people to extend themselves, and I’m telling you they are doing unbelievable work.”

Goldin has been equally determined in fighting for NASA programs in Congress. In 1993, when the space station faced what seemed like a certain death, Goldin personally visited every member of Congress. The space station funding passed by one vote.

In a wide-ranging interview this week, Goldin was also passionate about the state of the aerospace industry in the U.S., which he said was eroding amid increased foreign competition and consolidation.

“I’m terribly concerned,” Goldin said. “There is less intellectual diversity. We need to rekindle a three-way partnership between university research, the aerospace industry and government laboratories.”

The decision for Goldin to step aside could ultimately come down to choosing between his lifetime love of space and that of his family. Goldin, 60, spent 25 years in Southern California as a TRW executive before being plucked for the NASA job, and his children and grandchildren live in Manhattan Beach.

“There are family pressures that are saying enough is enough and let’s go back home,” said John Logsdon, director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University. “But he doesn’t feel he has finished the work he has set out to do.”

By protocol, all Clinton appointees must submit a resignation letter, which the new administration could accept or reject. A spokeswoman for the Bush transition office said it does not discuss or speculate on possible appointments.

“There is a reason he would want to stay on because his agenda of low-cost spaceflight is unfinished, given the events of 1999,” said Howard E. McCurdy, a space historian at American University whose book about the Goldin revolution will be published in the fall. “The institutional and cultural changes he wants to instill at NASA aren’t complete. Extending his tenure would solidify what he already brought to NASA.”

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Daniel Goldin

Born: July 23, 1940, New York City

Career: NASA administrator since 1992; vice president, general manager, TRW Space & Technology Group, 1987-92; member, TRW technical staff, 1967-87; research scientist, NASA, 1962-67

Education: Bachelor of science, mechanical engineering, City College of New York, 1962; many honorary doctorates

Memberships: Fellow, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (which gave him the Piper General Aviation Award in 1995); American Astronomical Society (John F. Kennedy Astronautics Award, 1993); Institute for Advancement of Engineering

Personal: Married, two daughters

Sources: Marquis’ Who’s Who, NASA

Researched by NONA YATES / Los Angeles Times