Sean O’Keefe, the administrator of NASA, announced that he is resigning to take a higher-paying job as chancellor of Louisiana State University.
NASA has been a shambles, and part of the responsibility is O’Keefe’s: the shuttle Columbia disaster happened over a year after his appointment. An independent agency report laid the blame in part on “slipshod” management.
His departure comes at a particularly good time for supporters of the Hubble Space Telescope. O’Keefe had refused to approve any additional missions to keep the Hubble in repair “for safety reasons”. This was a killing blow to researchers who had spent years preparing Hubble-related experiments, and it was seen as yet one more assault by the Bush administration on the scientific community.
Last week, the National Academy of Sciences released a report stating that NASA should use astronauts to keep the Hubble in orbit. This is supported by members of Congress like Senator Barbara Mikulski, who was instrumental in getting $300 million earmarked for the Hubble in NASA’s current budget.
Exploration of the cosmos may be the most meaningful legacy our incomprehensibly corrupt government leaves to future generations. Let’s hope that the next person at the helm at NASA is committed to the advancement of scientific knowledge instead of marking time until a better-paying job comes along.