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Goldin
Ousts JSC Director Abbey
Dan Goldin, U.S.
NASA Administrator, has ousted Johnson Space Center (JSC) Director
George Abbey. Goldin has appointed George Abbey to be his Senior
Assistant for International Issues. Roy Estess,  Director
of Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, will serve as JSC’s
temporary director. Abbey, 68, has headed up JSC since August 1995.
The reassignment is the first major personnel change within NASA
since President Bush took office. A shake-up of NASA's human
spaceflight program is expected to follow.
Space.com reported
that “Many observers, including former JSC officials, have
speculated that Abbey's overbearing and secretive management style
was a factor in his removal.” Goldin told Space.com, “George is
a complex man. It's very difficult to communicate with George…. At
this point in time, we need someone who will make significant
changes, and bring people along with him in the process. It's not a
management role, but a consensus-building role. It's not anything
bad about George. Everybody has good points and bad points.” The
move is seen as a “huge demotion” for Abbey by NASA observers.
“His luck has finally run out,” said one former NASA executive.
NASA’s Johnson
Space Center has about 15,000 employees with the responsibility to
manage development of the International Space Station and conduct
NASA’s shuttle missions, with a budget of US$4.1 billion.
Speculation
of who may replace NASA Administrator Dan Goldin continues. Former
Republican Congressman Bob Walker is considered a frontrunner,
though he is expected to decline any request. Others names being
considered include former Lockheed Martin executive Tom Young,
former Johnson Space Center director Gerry Griffin, and Raymond S.
Colladay, retired chief of Lockheed Martin Astronautics and former
associate administrator for NASA. Other names which have been
reported under consideration include General Pete Worden and former
Apollo astronaut and New Mexico Senator Harrison Schmitt.
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