Alternate NASA administrators

[Archibald]

In our world the NASA administrators were
- Keith Glennan 1958 - 1961
- James Webb 1961 - 1968
- Tom Paine October 1968 to September 1970
- George Low (acting) May 1971
- James Fletcher 1971 - 1976
- Robert Frosch 1976 - 1981
- James Beggs 1981 - 1986
- Fletcher again 1986 - 1989
- Richard Truly 1989 - 1992
- Dan Goldin March 1992 to November 2001 (nearly a decade !)
- Sean O'Keefe 2001 - 2005
- Mike Griffin 2005 - 2009
- Charles Bolden (current)

Of interest are people considered, but not retained. Quite hard to find, but there are some interesting names.

Couldn't find Glennan or Webb alternatives, But the Paine - Fletcher period is interesting.
Nature, February 1971 (Google books) - alternatives to Fletcher

http://www.google.com/search?hl=fr&...degrees+of+seriousness"Bush&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=

George Low
NASA number 2, Apollo 8 hero, refused the job (!)
Frank Borman.
Apollo 8 obviously - considered three times in 1971 (Fletcher) 1981 (Beggs) and 1986 (Fletcher again)
Beggs
NASA administrator later, obtained the space station.
George bush Sr.
A future US President that loved space
Frank Jameson
President of drone-builder Teledyne, he wanted an agressive space program, and was nearly elected to the job.
Fletcher was prefered because more willing to accept budget cuts.

And a host of others - Illinois congressman Roudebush, General Dynamic boss...

More to come !

 

[Dudekebm]

I'm trying to see where this would be going since it really wouldn't have too drastic an effect in changing how the US Space Program turned out. You'd have to basically change the presidential succession from the founding of NASA until now in order to really change things; the NASA administrator is a presidential appointee...at best he's put in that position because the president respects and believes in his appointee's vision...at worst and more typically (esp. with the most recent NASA administrator) they're just a mouthpiece for what the president wants done with NASA.

 

[Mike Stearns]

Frank Borman as NASA Administrator would be interesting....

 

[Archibald]

Sure, assisted by George Low - both knew each ther well since the Apollo 8 days.

Alternatives to Paine, January 1969
http://www.nss.org/resources/library/shuttledecision/chapter03.htm

With the new president, Richard Nixon, free to name his own NASA Administrator, Paine submitted a pro forma resignation upon Nixon's inauguration in January 1969. Nixon's staff offered the post to candidates that included General Bernard Schriever, who had built the Air Force's big missiles; Simon Ramo, a co-founder of TRW who had provided Schriever with vital technical support; and Patrick Haggerty, head of Texas Instruments.

 

[Workable Goblin]

I'm trying to see where this would be going since it really wouldn't have too drastic an effect in changing how the US Space Program turned out. You'd have to basically change the presidential succession from the founding of NASA until now in order to really change things; the NASA administrator is a presidential appointee...at best he's put in that position because the president respects and believes in his appointee's vision...at worst and more typically (esp. with the most recent NASA administrator) they're just a mouthpiece for what the president wants done with NASA.

No, at worst they're Paine--pushing a vision the President and Congress don't want and won't fund (reading about the funding battles in 1970 right now, and boy is it painful). Being a mouthpiece is great compared to that. Even then, though, the Administrator does have an important effect on the internal politics and management of NASA, obviously tracking with how long they served--Webb, Goldin, and Fletcher, the three longest-serving administrators, had a big impact on NASA as a whole, for example.

Obviously, changing up Administrators will have a bigger effect early on--the first few has significant political independence, Webb and Paine particularly, and had a big effect on the program. Later, the best effort you could make would be to get rid of the mediocre astronaut appointees (especially Truly, who helped blow SEI), and to curtail Goldin's reign (considering the mess that O'Keefe apparently had to clean up, and the other issues created by some of Goldin's management initiatives, this would definitely be good).

 

[simonbp]

GHW Bush is certainly an interesting selection, especially if he still ends up in Regan's White House.

Of all the astronauts that could have been administrator, Borman seems among the best. He and John Young were the two real management types to come out of Gemini, and Borman was more ambitious.

Regardless of who it is, a weaker man than Paine would probably have given in to Congress's desire for small, crew-only Shuttle. If the compromise was that it would be launched on Saturn Ib's (rather than USAF Titans) and be followed by a modular space station (which Rockwell was proposing at the time), then NASA could have been in very different state by 1985. You'd essentially have something between Freedom and Fred, serviced by reusable crew-only shuttles. In other words, basically what we'll have once Dragon and CST-100 are up and running (just 20 years earlier).

 

[Archibald]

Even if he never was NASA administrator Bush did he best to boost NASA during its presidency. Unfortunately the Space Exploration Initiative was not exactly a success !
As usual, the problem is the butterflies. Having Bush as NASA administrator from 1971 to 1976 might change tons of things in his life. Perhaps having history unchanged, like happened in Baxter Voyage with JFK (badly hurt, not dead, Jacky killed instead, yet history doesn't change !)

The 1969 candidates Ramo and Shriever knew each other quite well. Both worked actively on the very successful ICBM crash program of the late 50's - Ramo at TRW, Shriever within USAF.

How could this experience apply to NASA ? Perhaps mass-produced, cheap launchers ? (a thousand of Minuteman were build and fielded).

I'm open to any suggestion on Borman.