NASA JPL boss bails for 'personal reasons' as budget cuts bite

Laurie Leshin, director of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), is stepping down in June and will be replaced by JPL veteran David Gallagher. Voyager probe. Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech JPL directors come and go, but Voyager flies on... Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech Leshin was appointed to the top job in 2022 and has faced multiple …

[User McUser]

Mars Sample Return

Perhaps they can get the MSR mission funded if they promise to give one of the rocks to La Presidente L'Orange.

[Lazlo Woodbine]

Re: Mars Sample Return

By having him catch it during re-entry?

[Dan 55]

Re: Mars Sample Return

Not just one of the rocks, all of them.

[trevorde]

Next JPL boss

Will no doubt be a MAGA hat wearing, anti-science, flat earther, moon landing conspirator, climate change denier, Trump supporter who didn't even graduate high school

[Lazlo Woodbine]

Re: Next JPL boss

From the actual article "will be replaced by JPL veteran David Gallagher"

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Next JPL boss

... except (from TFA): "his appointment is likely an interim one" ...

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: Next JPL boss

Why would there need to be a next JPL boss ?

JPL is in woke California. Worse it's in Pasadena, I doubt there is a MAGA hat in the whole of Pasadena, there is no political reason to keep it open.

[anothercynic]

Re: Next JPL boss

Pasadena has more MAGAs than Hollywood, but distinctly less than Orange County. ;-)

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Next JPL boss

General George Patton was from Pasadena. He was a lot of things but “woke” was not one of them.

[Lazlo Woodbine]

Re: Next JPL boss

Do you understand what Next means?

Any Trump appointee would be next but one...

[Don Jefe]

Reductionism and Bottlenecks

In the spirit of Krup, JPL is being realigned to service SpaceX at the taxpayers expense. JPL is the primary source for technical expertise for SpaceX and instead of paying for it they’re stripping away costs from JPL so more of the allocated funding can go to SpaceX projects.

GAO reporting that it has proven cheaper to use traditional rockets than SpaceX has sent SpaceX into a frenzy looking for ways to back up earlier promises that they could get to space cheaper. So far all they’ve found are scams and subsidies like this.

[Gene Cash]

Re: Reductionism and Bottlenecks

> GAO reporting that it has proven cheaper to use traditional rockets than SpaceX

Citation? Not that I'm a fan of Space Karen, but SpaceX did make ULA abandon Delta and develop Vulcan, which is much cheaper.

[Jamie Jones]

Re: Reductionism and Bottlenecks

It's Don Jefe! Bloody hell, that's a blast from the past!

[IGotOut]

"Personal Reasons"

"I don't want to be around when the shit hits the fan and be made a scapegoat"

[Jamie Jones]

Re: "Personal Reasons"

That explanation works, though like "to spend more time with the family", I took it to mean squeezed out.

Mind you, as the Western equivalent of "accidentally falling out of a window", it's infinitely preferable!

[anothercynic]

Re: "Personal Reasons"

Especially given she's a woman... and the chances are that because she's a science person, she will rub up the tradwife/tradwoman movement inside MAGA the wrong way.