Q: People close to you say you hold George Abbey in the highest regard. How hard was it to ask him to step down as Johnson Space Center director?

Goldin: First, I have to say that I've known George Abbey since the day I walked into this place. George has made major contributions to the program before I arrived and while I am here. He loves this program. He wouldn't do anything to hurt it. There are things that one has to do when they are given the responsibility from the president of the United States. And the reforms that have to be put in place and the question is, "how much more runway does George have in front of him?"

George is 68 or 69 now and the program has been a transition. Sometimes it is good to bring in a fresh set of eyes. We do it in the private sector all the time. If this was the private sector, we wouldn't be talking about it. It was just time to change. I'm excited about the possibilities for George. He loves international travel. He has an unbelievable fondness for Great Britain. He's of Welsh and Scottish descent. He and I have had many discussions about bringing Great Britain into the program. So there are a number of opportunities there. It was just time. It was time. It was the right thing to do. It was not a negative statement about George. It is time for new management at Johnson.

Q: You mentioned that you feel that you are in your peak years. Do you think you will move on from NASA into industry or academia, or is this your crowning achievement?

Goldin: This job..., my wife drove me to work this morning and I was saying to her, "it's unbelievable. I don't have time to think."

I wanted to go out to California -- I have to be out there on business at the end of March – and she's going out on a Thursday night. I was going to go with her. Then Mr. Mahone informs I have to be in New York on Saturday. I'm going to be out there on Sunday and Monday morning. Then I wanted to take the day off to spend with my family, and Mr. Mahone walked into my office yesterday and said you have to be in Washington Tuesday morning. So this job doesn't allow you to phase down.

This sort of job doesn't allow you to be a caretaker. There is a constant ops tempo that causes you to be focused all the time. I have no idea about what the future holds for me. I haven't had a chance to think about it. I thought I'd think about it when we went skiing -- we were going to take a two-week ski trip to Europe -- it ended up being one week. I was on the phone half the time calling back to Washington. I haven't had time to think.

Q: So you're in a sense tabling those thoughts until the post-administrator phase?

Goldin: Yeah, when we get there I will take a month or two off and go somewhere and just think about things and make some decisions. I just have no idea what I want to do.

Q: Do you think you will write a book?

Goldin: I think that might be a possibility. But I don't think I'd ever write a kiss-and-tell book. I have some ideas in my head. I don't know if I have the intensity or focus to do it. I don't know, maybe start up some high-tech companies that are founded on good financial principles. I've had ideas about that. Maybe I’ll fix an ailing company. I just don't know.

Q: Does it pain you to think that Johnson Space Center is pulling back from some of its activities focused on the far frontiers of space in order to concentrate on finishing the space station?

Goldin: In a certain sense I think it is good. I think we were all deceiving ourselves that we could do too much. I think we are going to get there faster now. It's a paradox. By pulling back from some of the longer-term activities, we are going to so strengthen our capabilities on the station and the shuttle. We are going to do it a lot better, a lot faster and we are going to build confidence in the American people that NASA can do what is says it's going to do.

We’re sending a very loud signal that we know how to prioritize, we know how to live within the budget. We are not going to come back with a little tin cup. We’re going to take the best people we have and put them on the top two priorities for NASA.

I believe in two or three years we are going to gain so much confidence that we are going to set the stage to open the space frontier. When you pull back, sometimes you build tremendous strength and momentum. I think the key to a mission to Mars is public confidence that NASA can do what it says it's going to do. So when we decide to go to Mars and we have some numbers, the public will believe us.

Q: How do you combat the view that the station is something of a failure because it may end up being something less than what was promised?