[Flightdeck]

"If you think I paint a bleak picture, you have never been in an incompetent government organization."

Your picture sounds fine for an incompetent organization. The only problem is that NASA is probably the most competent government agency we have. They're not perfect, but they accomplish a helluva lot with their money, more than can be said for many of the other agencies who get funded tenfold of NASA.

There aren't pockets of competency, there may be small pockets of incompetency, and you're right; one used to be at the top, but not any more. Griffin used to be chief engineer at NASA.

And finally, I think these threads should be locked to scientists and engineers. Everybody else's opinion is near-meaningless.

[k2blader]

And finally, I think these threads should be locked to scientists and engineers.

Yeah. And I think the immigration threads should be locked to border patrol agents. < /sarc >

[AndyJackson]

The only problem is that NASA is probably the most competent government agency we have

Excuse me, but 2+years to fix the problem before them that stuff was shedding from the fuel tanks, they declare everything fixed, launch, and guess what, stuff sheds from the fuel tanks. No that is not a competent organization. It is indicative of a bunch of bozos in charge.