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You're getting downvoted, which maybe isn't great since there's an important point here that you missed, and it might be worth mentioning. The SLS is an incred
by justin66 2y ago
You're getting downvoted, which maybe isn't great since there's an important point here that you missed, and it might be worth mentioning.
The SLS is an incredibly expensive boondoggle, a result of pork barrel politics, and so on, but it hasn't caused a massive spike in headcount at NASA proportional to its cost. There are some managers at NASA dealing with it, and if it goes away, they'll deal with something else. The big headcount with SLS is in the private sector, at the contractors.
NASA has pushed back on some of this stupid shit to the fullest extent it can, given the political reality that it has to make whatever congress funds. Maybe you regard DOGE as a potential remedy to that, but firing a bunch of people is orthogonal to that effort.
- ctrlp 2y agoI'm not saying DOGE is or isn't a solution. More that NASA may be past its sell-by date and unfixable in terms of efficiency. It's like watching an old man still try to dance like when he was young. Maybe there are echoes of his youth but all the gracefulness is gone. But maybe its function these days is more of a jobs program.
- justin66 2y ago> More that NASA may be past its sell-by date and unfixable in terms of efficiency. I don't see it that way, but again, to a large extent they're hamstrung by the stupid shit they are required to do by congress. The same agency that has to somehow shepherd the SLS or keep the ISS running alongside the Russians, all just ridiculous political stuff, also ought to get credit for making incredible probes and landers and running the missions that let them do real exploration and scientific study. When NASA gets to do what it's really meant to do, it excels.