Goldin had nothing but criticisms for space business last winter, saying that U.S. rocket makers were "greedy" and had failed to field anything new since the space shuttle engines two decades ago.

He added to his harsh words last April during a stunning speech to the U.S. Space Foundation in Colorado Springs, telling industry "don't look to 'Uncle Sugar' to bail out your profits". This latest escapade of the perils of Dan took place Dec. 16th at the close of the NASA Advisory Committee meeting at year's end.

Goldin decried critics and skeptics of his "faster, better, cheaper" approach to management, saying his words were being usurped by people that weren't committed to the overall idea of smaller spacecraft. "Companies like to 'bid to win' on our contracts, then lowball the costs," he sneered to the stunned attendees of what was an open meeting in Washington.

"When are we going to see (industry) them 'bid to perform'?" Lawyers, Goldin suggested, were being hired by contractors to design "weasel words" to let them "get what they want of this process", instead of what he was asking for. The result? Space industry contractors cut out redundant systems and testing of components to save money.

Turning to his audience at NASA headquarters, Goldin gave a tongue lashing to the space agency's biggest contractor, Lockheed Martin. "They cared more about commercializing the launch vehicle for the Lunar Prospector than our program's needs," he said.

"We wind up launching on a rocket that blew up with its first customer - that's not good for NASA, but then again who cares?" Goldin said Lockheed executives told him the company was going to have to spend millions to make the booster safe enough for NASA's payload, as a result of the earlier failure. "Well, I told them we weren't going to pay for it!".

He had harsh words as well for Orbital Sciences' winged Pegasus XL, a smaller vehicle the space agency as well as the U.S. Air Force has become dependent on for lifts into space, due to lack of competitors in the small launcher category.

"They always want to fix (their problems) with NASA money, instead of standing behind their products," Goldin said. "They know we have no alternatives". His agency usually "has to clean up the mess" left behind by contractor's cheapening attitudes. "It's really disgraceful that we won't be getting a second X-33 vehicle."

With major crises looming immediately in the new year over NASA budgets and the space station, is the civil space agency's leader feeling the strain, and looking to spread the misery around? One thing is true- 1998 mark's Goldin's 6th year as space chief -making him the second-longest serving leader in the space agency's history.

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