In a recently released report, a group of aerospace experts concluded that NASA is at a crossroads, and the end may be closer than we think for the world’s most powerful space agency.
According to Washington Post journalists, the new report, entitled “NASA at a Crossroads” (NASA at a crossroads) and drawn up at the request of the US Congress, reveals in detail the problems facing the space agency.
For some time already, the best specialists, choosing to retire or to work in private industry, where salaries are higher.
That’s because funding for the space agency continues to be cut. Although it manages complicated and high-profile missions like operations with , other missions like bringing Martian samples to Earth have been delayed, so rivals like China have every chance to gain ground on the United States.
NASA focuses too much on the present and too little on the future
The report is about 200 pages long and includes recommendations from dozens of experts and universities. The majority’s conclusion is that NASA is focusing too much on the present and too little on the future, according to .
To cope with the lack of employees and the shrinking budget, NASA has relied on the private sector in recent years. The results have been mixed, as seen with the partially failed capsule mission that took astronauts to the International Space Station but returned to Earth without them.
What did NASA Administrator Bill Nelson say?
“(NASA) will have trouble hiring creative and innovative engineers. Innovative and creative engineers don’t want a job that involves supervising other people’s work,” said Norman Augustine, lead author of the report and former executive director of .
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said the 200-page report “aligns with our ongoing efforts to ensure we have the infrastructure, workforce and technology NASA needs for decades to come.”
