'Rogue' NASA Administrator Gets the Axe

This is disgraceful, Why should he be fired for disagreeing with Obama's plan. He was trying to offer a compromise to save tax payers time and money. He want to keep Ares I and Orion that are 80% finished. NASA spent $9 billion so far, that alot of money to throw away.

Mr. Hanley seems to have committed the unforgivable sin of not shutting up and eating pork with the other senior execs and contractors and politicos, but Space X just might be interested. Other agencies just might be looking to snap up trained senior staff that have an eye on cost and innovation instead of a yesman just looking to go along.

@Penzor

Regardless of how much he or I disagree with Obama's plan, he is still the president. Just because you disagree with your boss doesn't mean you can do whatever you want. At the very least, it should serve as a reminder to us the American people that the way to get Constellation and NASA back on track is to put pressure on our Senate to support them in the budget.

Unfortunately, the reason Obama is jettisoning the space program at least for his duration in office is that people get angry that big money is being spent while we are going through some financial difficulty and they view the space program as something that doesn't affect them at all.

I've said it once and I'll say it again, it's a shame when people care more about Dancing with the Stars then exploring them.

consider your own job, you have every right to disagree with your boss, but if you actualy act against your bosses policies, you won't have a job for long. thats just how it works.

i don't agree with Obama's current policies regarding the space program, but i think i grasp the short-term political necessity of cutting "the pork" (as most of america probably views the space program, unfortunately). so i can understand and grudgingly tollerate a temporary scaling back of our space program.

with luck, once the economy recovers Japan will be on its way to building its moonbase, and other nations will have pulled ahead of us sufficiently to light a fire under that all-powerfull american competitive spirit. if it still exsists.

i love how people say oh, i understand the need for cutting this or that..and yet noone seems to say anything about the wastefull way he is spending money the needless spending on construction and highways that dont need fixed or buildings that dont need built or on a health care program that it seems most americans dont want or a war that most americans dont want..oh yes, you say he's president so you cant disagree with him cause he's your boss, well..news flash..it is the right of all americans to speak up and disagree with something they believe their government is doing wrong..the government works for the people..and that INCLUDES the american president

So instead of doing what HE wants, maybe he should ask the people that he works for

If and when I speak on pork spending in our space program, I will speak from the standpoint of years in the machining and metals fabrication trades, where the price between a 35 cent part and a 35,000 dollar part is nil except for the end user. And don't speak to me about necessity of quality, because I know for a fact that often the parts selected(suppliers)are NOT the best available, nor the most durable or dependable. That Jeff Hanley got railroaded out is no surprise. He knew long since that there is no money to be made in the space program saving money, nor in cost effective use of available resources. He also knew almost exactly the moment when the Constellation project was killed, and that every word after that was him taking his job in his hands. I for one wish Mr. Hanley the best of luck in securing employment with one of the private space agencies. His skills and determination will be needed in the next few years.