[RightWhale]

some NASA managers were "perhaps out of touch with the realities of manned spaceflight"

Would that be a surprise? Considering the director himself is not someone you'd come to with an orbital mechanics problem or an exotic metal welding problem, one might expect to find that some other managers are also trained in management, not engineering.

[MikeD]

one might expect to find that some other managers are also trained in management, not engineering.

That's a shame. It's not too hard to train engineers to be managers. Yeah, you have to hire a new engineer, but the old one is now a manager who has a clue about how things are done.

Sigh.

MD