Report Envisions 'Hollow Future' for NASA

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Above: Workers freshen up the paint on the NASA logo on the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center on May 20, 2020 in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Image copyright: Joe Raedle/Staff/Getty Images News via Getty Images

The Facts

  • A National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine report published Tuesday and titled "NASA at a Crossroads" describes a possible "hollow future" for the space agency if it doesn't address several issues.

  • Written by a committee of aerospace experts at the request of Congress, the report says NASA's prioritizing of near-term missions and its lack of a vision for the future is contributing to its deterioration.

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The Spin

Narrative A

If NASA wants to survive into the next decade, it has to get serious about long-term planning. The agency has to budget for improvements to infrastructure and focus on retaining talent by showing employees their jobs will be safe year to year. If NASA doesn't come up with a sustainability plan, it'll never get to execute its big-picture plans, like returning to the moon and reaching Mars.

PBS NewsHour

Narrative B

These issues are serious and disappointing, but NASA can't be blamed because it has seen its budget squeezed year to year for some time. Congress and the White House like to boast about future missions to the moon and Mars, but those projects cost money the government doesn't seem willing to bestow on NASA. If the government wants NASA to survive, it must properly fund it for the here-and-now and the future.

Ars Technica

Metaculus Prediction

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