Prioritizing NASA

NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe seems bent on overstating popular support for President Bush's space agenda. He did it again this week, pointing to this year's $16.2-billion budget as proof that Congress is committed to following through on Bush's far-reaching exploration plans.

Americans may be mesmerized by the prospect of reaching new frontiers in space, but the nation has hardly had a debate about NASA's mission and the associated costs. O'Keefe has a role to play as the agency's cheerleader, especially in the wake of the shuttle disasters. But his larger responsibility is to guide the nation as it sets both creative and fiscal priorities.

O'Keefe's comments this week on NASA's budget continue the theme he has hammered home for months since the president announced his desire for astronauts to revisit the moon as part of subsequent missions to Mars "and to worlds beyond." NASA should be pleased by strong congressional support for its budget, especially in this climate of deficit spending and with billions more needed for Iraq since the space plan was proposed in January. But NASA was helped tremendously by House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas, a strong supporter of the president's plan. Still lacking is clear and broad support for the billions NASA would need over years to reach Mars in addition to fulfilling other NASA missions.

The president was right to propose a new challenge to NASA, to move the agency beyond the shuttle era and into a period of more focused space exploration. But his plan did the opposite, proposing a kitchen-sink approach to space that piqued the imagination but failed to articulate scientific priorities. NASA needs to draw clear missions for the manned and unmanned space programs.

O'Keefe has focused much of the year on making safety improvements at NASA and on changing the agency's closed, bureaucratic culture, two important contributions that will lay the foundation for a stronger space program. He has also been helped by the enormous success of the Cassini mission to Saturn and the Mars rovers, whose brilliant images have reminded the world of NASA's importance. But before the agency takes what could be a fundamentally new direction, the administration, Congress and the scientific community need to weigh more thoroughly how the president's plan would serve science and affect other domestic priorities.

[Last modified November 27, 2004, 00:50:23]