Message posted by Andre' M. Dall'au on July 09, 2000 at 16:56:54 EST:

Expert no, honest critic; yes. Thanks anyway my Australian mate. NO federal agency wants to look bad as NASA does over this string of failures. Since it really looks like horrid mismanagement, a schedule based vs. quality based culture (that's what blew up Challenger BTW), and programs that are not developed enough to incorporate independent verification for critical steps are to blame. The best and the brightest went to work for NASA to get the men on the moon. We did, and then fired them all. No-one with a serious career goal will work for an agency that rewards success like the incredible achievement of landing a man on the moon with a pink slip. Now we get contractors and engineers that don't have the previous commitment, managers that are schedule and production-based, and a national goal that is limited and very prone to political whims. Running a spacecraft into Mars by accident was a near win; at least they didn't hit Venus.

In Reply to: Re: Space Probes posted by Magoo on July 08, 2000 at 22:55:53 EST:

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