Government bloat

[webtaz99]

Does anyone know how many beaureacrats are already being paid by the federal government to "oversee" private space flight, even though only a few private individuals have flown? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[vogon13]

Imagine the duplicated overhead from ESA, NASA, Japan, India, China, Russia, etc. and how many more missions could be flown with those financial resources . . . <br /><br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff0000"><strong>TPTB went to Dallas and all I got was Plucked !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#339966"><strong>So many people, so few recipes !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Let's clean up this stinkhole !!</strong></font> </p> </div>

 

[qso1]

I don't think it could be very many or else the private individuals who have already flown might not have otherwise. Of course, I'm sure the number of bueaucrats that will oversee private spaceflight will grow in the coming years. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>

 

[vulture2]

The end of the Shuttle will result in loss of 1/3 of contractors but no civil servants.

 

[qso1]

If the Constellation program follows, then thats probably what will happen. There will be a certain amount of civil servants retiring over the transition period also. If Constellation is scrapped, then there could be reductions even at NASA. At the end of the Spacelab program, there were a number of civil servants that got buyouts. I don't recall what all that entailed but I think those still a few years away from retirement got a check and sent packing. Better than a gold watch.<br /><br />The largest NASA reduction I'm aware of came after Apollo was ended. Pre Apollo NASA levels were around 25,000 people (NASA and contractor personnel) at KSC. Now its something like 16,000. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>