Obviously this is a case of the fleas driving the dog. If contractors
are so deep into NASA that they can call the shots, then a congressional
investigation is called for. Otherwise, NASA should publish RFPs for
what they want and let American companies bid against the suppliers for
ESA, JSA, RSA, ISA, etc.
As far as I know, the old Buy American program requirements are no
longer binding.
Jim Frysinger
Jim McCracken wrote:
>
> NASA senior officials seem to still carry the idea that no government
> agency has the necessary "big stick" to get American businesses to use the
> metric system. See the following transcript from NPR.
>
> NPR's April 6, 2001 edition of MORNING EDITION covered the NASA Mars
> Mission -- "Tomorrow NASA will launch its latest mission to Mars: a small
> spacecraft designed to study the red planet from its orbit. NPR's David
> Kestenbaum reports on NASA's efforts to minimize the risk of failure.
> (4:14) http://www.npr.org/ramfiles/me/20010406.me.01.rmm "
>
> It seems that Dr. Edward J. Weiler, NASA's Associate Administrator for
> Space Science, doesn't believe that NASA can't "tell" American businesses
> to use the metric system. Dr. Weiler is responsible for providing overall
> executive leadership of NASA's Space Science Enterprise, and with the
> attitude voiced in the NPR report, NASA won't provide much leadership to
> America's metric-based space science activities.
--
James R. Frysinger University/College of Charleston
10 Captiva Row Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
Charleston, SC 29407 66 George Street
843.225.0805 Charleston, SC 29424
http://www.cofc.edu/~frysingj [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cert. Adv. Metrication Specialist 843.953.7644
