"The Mars program bore his personal stamp and embodied not only his greatest hopes for NASA’s future, but symbolized the faster, better, cheaper approach. These failures put his overall change strategy in question and tarnished his reputation," the report explained. "He showed that faster and cheaper is not always better and that a leader’s reach can exceed his grasp."
Lambright’s report underscores the fact that Goldin has responded to these setbacks with a newly christened Space Launch Initiative and a revamped, but stretched out, robotic Mars program.
While Goldin’s tenure at NASA’s helm "has been a roller coaster ride," the study found that he "has managed to guide his agency around the most perilous curves and rescue it from its deepest descents."
Finding the ‘Goldin mean’
Earlier this week, Lambright presented his report findings here at a PricewaterhouseCoopers Endowment seminar. In attendance was NASA chief, Daniel Goldin.
"He liked the report, except for the parts that weren’t flattering," Lambright told SPACE.com in a phone interview from his Syracuse, New York office.
Goldin feels that his critics don’t appreciate the fact that the president is elected and the bureaucrats are supposed to fall in line. While he tried very hard to build consensus within his own agency, it didn’t work, Lambright said.
"He’s the president’s man, and he makes no bones about it. He is not NASA’s man. Goldin doesn’t think that people understand that," Lambright said. As agency head, the constituencies are many, but clearly the president is probably number one," he said.
It is finding that golden mean – carrying out
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