Posted 6/28/2005 05:22:00 PM by Douglas

"We're ready to go." That phrase doesn't just apply to the announcement that NASA director made today, but also to about 100 NASA managers.

A purge of 50 to 100 senior managers at NASA is creating a "climate of fear" among employees, mirroring agency culture prior to the Space Shuttle Columbia explosion in 2003, says an agency watchdog.

At least 25 managers have resigned under pressure since the first week of June and nearly 75 more managers are targeted for elimination by mid-August, says Keith Cowing, editor of NASAwatch.com

The former NASA scientist broke the story of the impending purge after his Web site was inundated with e-mail and leaked memos from former colleagues. Employees are "hunkering down" in fear of being fired and are afraid to offer new ideas or criticism, he said.

Hopefully, this won't have any impact (literally) on the July 13th launch.

U.S. astronauts will blast back into space in a matter of weeks, the head of NASA said Tuesday, despite a new, critical report questioning the safety of this exploration.

The optimistic assessment from NASA administrator Michael Griffin came after a task force review said Monday that the agency failed to meet key safety recommendations that came about as a result of the Columbia tragedy.

"We look like we're in pretty good shape. ... Based on what I know now, we're ready to go," Griffin told the House Science Committee.

Light that thing already!