Do NASA and the Johnson Space Center receive the credit they deserve?
We are always challenged to make the public aware of what the space program does. Our standard of living in this country and around the world goes up because of technology more than anything else. That’s what NASA does. research and development. We need to do a better job of communicating the payback for the investment in space. As far as NASA, the teamwork is better than I’ve seen it in the 30 years I’ve been around. We are trying to educate everyone about what the core competencies are not only at the Johnson Space Center but at all of NASA’s centers. In 50 years we have developed some amazing capabilities. If you are going to be an effective team, the first thing you have to do is appreciate what others can do. The communication is good right now. Will NASA’s next 50 years be as remarkable as its first half-century? I’m an eternal optimist. Obviously, we went to the moon. We developed a reusable spaceship the likes of which we may not see again, maybe for centuries. We built a space
