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    Gotta find the book reference but I read one by one of the engineers of one of the space telescopes. He stated that his team and its research supporters, which took 17 yrs to launch, were consistently outlobbied by the Shuttle's professional lobbyists. As to my answer, a big part of it is re-framing the attribution to Trump's administration.
    – Italian Philosophers 4 Monica
    Commented May 18, 2022 at 2:32
  • 1
    I added it, but could only paraphrase the lobbying part which was really wittily phrased. Thought I had as Kindle, but I guess I either got it from the library or had the dead tree version. Good book, if dated.
    – Italian Philosophers 4 Monica
    Commented May 18, 2022 at 2:41
  • 2
    @uhoh Pence's push was to ensure that the Moon landing would occur during Trump's second term. That date was utterly unrealistic. Moreover, congresscritters don't like SpaceX. NASA boasts that SLS involves over 1000 companies, spread across most of the states, which congresscritters like. Any sane company would say WTF??? to that. With over 1000 outsourced suppliers, it's not surprising that SLS is years behind schedule and billions of dollars over the initial budget. Orion has similar issues of being behind schedule and over budget. It's not NASA that needs to transform itself. It's Congress.
    – David Hammen
    Commented May 18, 2022 at 12:37
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    @DavidHammen ;-) +1 100% etc. But you know, all congress is doing is listening to those humble folks who stop by the capital to walk the halls and speak to their representatives about how they'd like to be represented, right? That critical aspect of democracy called lobbying? (pardon my sarcasm)
    – uhoh
    Commented May 18, 2022 at 13:38
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    @DavidHammen Amen to that analysis: cough, F35, cough. And, as certain countries are currently amply demonstrating, running defense programs with pork in mind can backfire spectacularly. Though, maybe, maybe, the F35 has actually matured to be functional, it's only a good thing it wasn't needed during its prolonged and painful gestation.
    – Italian Philosophers 4 Monica
    Commented May 18, 2022 at 17:40