He bore the brunt of the political fallout when the agency's $1 billion Mars Observer spacecraft was lost in 1994, and two Mars missions since then also have failed.
Both the Mars Climate Orbiter and the Mars Polar Lander failed upon arrival at the Red Planet in late 1999, a double whammy largely blamed upon Goldin's aggressive budget cutting and his near-obsessive "faster, better, cheaper" approach to space exploration.
During his tenure NASA launched 171 space missions. Out of that number, Goldin pointed out that only 11 were lost.
"No other organization in the world has a record like that. And the total loss in dollars is about a half-billion dollars, and we launched $23 billion into space," Goldin told his troops.
"And I think about the ruckus, you know, `hey, we lost a few little spacecraft on Mars," he added, before holding the index finger and thumb of his right hand about an inch apart.
"Cute little itty bitty spacecraft," he added, evoking laughs.
Goldin then noted that NASA managers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., severely cut their budgets during the development of those missions -- at his direction.
"I asked them, after they cut the price by a factor of three, to cut it by another factor of two. And they were crazy enough to try. And they tried and failed," he said.
"And that's okay. It's really okay. I made promise when I came here. I take personal responsibility for the failures, and everyone else can get accolades for the successes. That's the job of the administrator."
A New York City native, Goldin began his aerospace career in 1962 at what now is NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, working on electronic propulsion systems for human expeditions to the planets.
A married father of two daughters, he joined the aerospace firm TRW Inc. in the late 1960s and spent the next 25 years working on classified projects for the Pentagon as well as advanced communications satellites, space technologies and scientific instruments.
President George H. W. Bush nominated Goldin for the NASA Administrator post in early 1992 and his first day on the job was April 1 of that year. His resignation will cap a record 3,517-day stint as the head of NASA, one that spanned the administrations of three U.S. presidents.
Former NASA Administrator James Fletcher served two separate terms as the agency's chief, tallying 3,260 days during tenures that spanned the initial development of the space shuttle and the immediate aftermath of the 1986 Challenger disaster.
Former agency chief James Webb held the job for 2,793 days during the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs.
Goldin, meanwhile, said Nov. 17 is personally going to be a difficult day.
"It's going to be very hard to walk out that door. But America is full of really good people. Whoever succeeds me will be great," he said.
"I intend to be quiet because the new administrator needs to have the public spotlight to do whatever he or she thinks is right. But I'll always have NASA in my heart, and I always think of each and every one of you."
advertisement
