The National Academies Press

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1 Introduction
Pages 9-14

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From page 9... ... For instance, in December 1999, NASA's then-administrator Daniel Goldin stated that the retirement of NASA's workforce was an "overwhelming issue" that would overshadow the agency's future for the next 5 to 10 years.1 More recently, NASA's current administrator Michael Griffin stated that "twenty-five percent of NASA's workforce reaches retirement age in the next five years and it will not be different in our contractor community." 2 Outside NASA, other organizations have referred to a "crisis" in the aerospace industry. 3 The Government Accountability Office reported in early 2003 that NASA is facing shortages in its workforce, which could likely worsen as the workforce continues to age and the pipeline of talent shrinks. Read the entire page →
From page 10... ... 7 Implementation of this policy has added new clarity to the direction and potential scope of the nation's human spaceflight program, and consequently has provided the basis for a more precise assessment of future space program workforce needs. In September 2005, NASA Administrator Michael Griffin unveiled the agency's plan for the human lunar exploration program, making clear that one of his goals was to avoid losing engineering experience and personnel during the transition from the Shuttle and Space Station era to the lunar exploration era. Read the entire page →
From page 11... ... Several studies have focused on a specific sector or government agency. For example, a 2001 Booz Allen Hamilton study for the National Reconnaissance Office on the military space industrial base echoed the statements of NASA administrators, warning that the average age of the space workforce was increasing.10 More recently, the military services have experienced serious problems in the acquisition of several DOD space systems, problems blamed partly on funding instability and overly ambitious requirements, but also on management inadequacies caused by poorly trained or unqualified personnel. Read the entire page →
From page 12... ... THE SCOPE OF NASA'S NEW ACTIVITIES President Bush's civil space exploration policy, announced in January 2004, calls for human lunar missions as early as 2015 but no later than 2020. Although neither the president nor NASA explicitly endorsed a specific timeline for a human Mars landing, the new policy does embrace human missions to Mars as an eventual goal after the return to the Moon, and NASA's leadership has stated that a human Mars mission could occur sometime in the 2020s. Read the entire page →
From page 13... ... Although the specifics of the lunar landing architecture are subject to change, development of these new spacecraft and launch vehicles clearly presents a technical challenge that will require significant systems integration expertise. NASA last undertook parallel development of multiple launch vehicles and spacecraft during the 1960s and of a new human spacecraft requiring substantial in-house expertise when it developed the Space Shuttle in the 1970s. Read the entire page →
From page 14... ... The NASA administrator, and the Bush administration's new national space policy, have indicated that NASA is committed to a balanced program of exploration that includes research to understand Earth, the solar system, and the larger universe that extends well beyond the solar system, in addition to the human space program. In the past NASA has also supported a broadly based research program in the physical and biological sciences, microgravity science, and aeronautics, but recently the microgravity programs have been scaled back and focused more narrowly on (primarily biomedical) Read the entire page →

From page 9...

... For instance, in December 1999, NASA's then-administrator Daniel Goldin stated that the retirement of NASA's workforce was an "overwhelming issue" that would overshadow the agency's future for the next 5 to 10 years.1 More recently, NASA's current administrator Michael Griffin stated that "twenty-five percent of NASA's workforce reaches retirement age in the next five years and it will not be different in our contractor community." 2 Outside NASA, other organizations have referred to a "crisis" in the aerospace industry. 3 The Government Accountability Office reported in early 2003 that NASA is facing shortages in its workforce, which could likely worsen as the workforce continues to age and the pipeline of talent shrinks.

Read the entire page →

From page 10...

... 7 Implementation of this policy has added new clarity to the direction and potential scope of the nation's human spaceflight program, and consequently has provided the basis for a more precise assessment of future space program workforce needs. In September 2005, NASA Administrator Michael Griffin unveiled the agency's plan for the human lunar exploration program, making clear that one of his goals was to avoid losing engineering experience and personnel during the transition from the Shuttle and Space Station era to the lunar exploration era.

Read the entire page →

From page 11...

... Several studies have focused on a specific sector or government agency. For example, a 2001 Booz Allen Hamilton study for the National Reconnaissance Office on the military space industrial base echoed the statements of NASA administrators, warning that the average age of the space workforce was increasing.10 More recently, the military services have experienced serious problems in the acquisition of several DOD space systems, problems blamed partly on funding instability and overly ambitious requirements, but also on management inadequacies caused by poorly trained or unqualified personnel.

Read the entire page →

From page 12...

... THE SCOPE OF NASA'S NEW ACTIVITIES President Bush's civil space exploration policy, announced in January 2004, calls for human lunar missions as early as 2015 but no later than 2020. Although neither the president nor NASA explicitly endorsed a specific timeline for a human Mars landing, the new policy does embrace human missions to Mars as an eventual goal after the return to the Moon, and NASA's leadership has stated that a human Mars mission could occur sometime in the 2020s.

Read the entire page →

From page 13...

... Although the specifics of the lunar landing architecture are subject to change, development of these new spacecraft and launch vehicles clearly presents a technical challenge that will require significant systems integration expertise. NASA last undertook parallel development of multiple launch vehicles and spacecraft during the 1960s and of a new human spacecraft requiring substantial in-house expertise when it developed the Space Shuttle in the 1970s.

Read the entire page →

From page 14...

... The NASA administrator, and the Bush administration's new national space policy, have indicated that NASA is committed to a balanced program of exploration that includes research to understand Earth, the solar system, and the larger universe that extends well beyond the solar system, in addition to the human space program. In the past NASA has also supported a broadly based research program in the physical and biological sciences, microgravity science, and aeronautics, but recently the microgravity programs have been scaled back and focused more narrowly on (primarily biomedical)

Read the entire page →

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1 Introduction Pages 9-14

1 Introduction
Pages 9-14