After a spectacular Sunday evening launch shuttle Discovery is to dock at the International Space Station today, setting the stage for its astronauts to get going on a busy mission.
Among the highlights will be spacewalks to install a final set of solar panels to boost the station’s electrical power and allow the outpost to permanently expand its crew from three to six.
It’s a long-awaited milestone that should start science experiments and help the station live up to its potential as a cutting- edge orbiting laboratory.
But back on the ground, NASA still doesn’t have a new administrator, and it’s hurting the agency’s ability to gain a fair share of federal money as long-range budget negotiations between Congress and the White House take shape, NASA supporters say.
That makes it critical President Barack Obama follow through on his statement last week that he’s poised to name NASA’s new boss.
We urge him to make the announcement this week because there’s no more time to waste.
Each day brings the shuttle program’s end next year that much closer and with it the loss of an estimated 3,500 jobs at Kennedy Space Center and perhaps thousands more along the Space Coast, which will worsen the already battered regional and Florida economies.
Selecting the new chief now would provide the coming transition with the steady leadership it badly needs.
It also would cement Obama’s strong start in supporting NASA as evidenced by his commitment to return astronauts to the moon by 2020 and boosting NASA spending $2 billion to $18.7 billion for fiscal year 2010.
NASA’s new boss will need a special mix of management, technical and political skills to navigate the agency’s course back to moon.
That makes the right pick crucial one Obama should make post haste.
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