In two years, NASA plans to begin the new space program that will send human astronauts to Mars. It won’t be easy, and technical issues aren’t the only challenges. The US Congress and President George W. Bush want NASA to begin work on the new Constellation Program now.
Yet NASA cannot expand its 18,000-member workforce, and its employees cannot devote their full attention to Constellation until the final shuttle mission is complete in 2010.
It’s a conundrum for NASA administrator Michael Griffin, and for advice he has turned to the NASA Advisory Council (NAC) and its human capital committee. Gerald Kulcinski, University of Wisconsin-Madison associate dean for research and Grainger Professor of Nuclear Engineering, is chair of the committee.