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Re:NASA will pay $146M for each SLS rocket engine by dwaltrip on Sunday May 03, 2020 @03:42PM (#23061318)
It's so tiring that people are unwilling or unable to handle nuance and complexity. An organization can both be bloated and inefficient as well as bold and daring and on the cutting edge of science.

I'll take a bloated NASA that sends probes to Pluto and funds new exciting programs such as Commercial Crew over no space program any day.

If you'd like to provide a specific plan for effective reform, I'd be interested in that as well.

Re:NASA will pay $146M for each SLS rocket engine by pfdietz on Tuesday May 05, 2020 @07:41AM (#23078947)
It's not that it's bloated and inefficient, it's that the basic mechanisms driving its behavior are not aligned with its ostensible stated purpose.

A politician doesn't usually care about science. He cares about votes and influence. So when he gives money to NASA he is doing so to produce those, not to produce science. If science gets done it's almost accidental.

The reason politicians get away with this is that the public lets them. They accept that what NASA is doing is ok, even when it's not. Apologists like yourself are ultimately to blame.