NASA鈥檚 top official, Sean O鈥橩eefe, resigned on Monday to pursue a job leading the main campus of Louisiana State University. O鈥橩eefe says he will remain at NASA until the White House names a replacement, adding that he hopes that by February the nominee will be confirmed by the US Senate.
鈥淭his was the most difficult decision I鈥檝e ever made, but it鈥檚 one I felt was best for my family and our future,鈥� O鈥橩eefe said in the statement.
President George W Bush nominated O鈥橩eefe as NASA鈥檚 administrator in November 2001 to clean up the agency鈥檚 finances. And indeed, O鈥橩eefe cleared a $5 billion budget overrun for the International Space Station.
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But after the space shuttle Columbia exploded in February 2003, O鈥橩eefe ended up overseeing a major cultural overhaul of NASA as well. That overhaul is not yet finished, and O鈥橩eefe hopes to have completed his NASA service before the first shuttle is due to return to flight, in May 2005.
In January 2004, O鈥橩eefe helped Bush set an ambitious and controversial programme to focus NASA鈥檚 efforts on eventually sending astronauts to the Moon and Mars. He has come under fire over the same period for cancelling a shuttle mission to repair the ailing Hubble Space Telescope, a decision that was opposed only last week by a prestigious US National Research Council panel.
鈥淗e鈥檚 led NASA through some very tough times,鈥� says Charles Zewe, spokesman for the Louisiana State University鈥檚 board of supervisors.
Difficult years
Zewe says O鈥橩eefe will visit the main campus, in Baton Rouge, on Wednesday and Thursday, and that a hiring decision could be made by Thursday evening. He says O鈥橩eefe is the only one of about 12 applicants to be invited to visit the university since the post of chancellor opened up in June. He adds that O鈥橩eefe formally applied for the position on Friday night after being invited to apply by university president William Jenkins and Louisiana State Governor Kathleen Blanco.
O鈥橩eefe 鈥渋s known in both academic circles and in business as a terrific manager, someone who鈥檚 cost-conscious but understands how to motivate people to do their best鈥�, Zewe told 快猫短视频.
鈥淭hese have been very difficult years,鈥� says Sheila Widnall, a professor of astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, US, and a former member of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB). 鈥淚 can鈥檛 think of anybody who could have done a better job than Sean O鈥橩eefe.鈥�
Widnall says O鈥橩eefe reacted as a 鈥渟trong leader鈥� to the CAIB鈥檚 criticisms of NASA. 鈥淗e owned the problem and said, 鈥榣et鈥檚 accept that recommendation and move forward.鈥� I think that鈥檚 what NASA needed to recover from that accident.鈥�
Possible successor
But O鈥橩eefe has not completely shaken off a criticism first levelled at him during his nomination for the job of NASA administrator. Some scientists have worried that his lack of a technical background would make it difficult for him to assess the scientific value of various programmes.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think he made any decisions in bad faith,鈥� says Steven Beckwith, director of the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland. STScI manages Hubble鈥檚 observations.
鈥淣evertheless, when it came to making his decision about Hubble, he never contacted me or other people who know about the programme,鈥� Beckwith told 快猫短视频. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think he spends that much time talking with scientists outside of his own inner circle.鈥�
Media reports say the White House has already assembled a list of about six possible replacements and could announce a successor as early as Thursday. At the top of that list, reportedly, is Ronald Kadish, who retired as director of the US Defense Department鈥檚 Missile Defense Agency in September 2004. Other candidates are said to include former shuttle astronauts Ron Sega, Charles Bolden and Robert Crippen.
O鈥橩eefe has served in a number of high-level government positions, including deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget and Secretary of the Navy. The $500,000-per-year position at LSU is located about an hour away from O鈥橩eefe鈥檚 home town of New Orleans.