Huntsville to have co-pilot in NASA (editorial), Huntsville Times
“Marshall Space Flight Center Director Robert Lightfoot’s promotion to NASA headquarters should bode well for Marshall as NASA focuses on development of America’s next generation rockets. … Huntsville lawyer Mark McDaniel, who served on the national NASA advisory council from 2000 to 2005, said Lightfoot will be a key player in decisions by the NASA administrator, president and Congress. “In Washington, access is everything. The associate administrator will be right down the hall from the administrator and deputy administrator.”
Keith’s note: So in other words, it would seem that McDaniel et al expect Lightfoot to put MSFC concerns (e.g. SLS) ahead of the rest of the agency due to his “access’. Yet these same people complain when other centers get their way. Hmm. Lightfoot’s position is at NASA “Headquarters” and it concerns the management of the entire agency – not sending things down to Huntsville because he owns a house there. I’m not sure that the Huntsville folks undersand that.
Maybe a good move, we will have to see
Reminds me of Joseph Conrad’s novel, “Nostromo.”