“NASA long ago evolved into a Congressional spoils jobs program.”
Every federal agency is subject to that phenomena; it’s survival by the budget and Congress is the main gate-keeper on the budget.
For “science” justification we could say that ought to have not happened to NASA, but look at the DOD, it long ago learned that Congress and the Presidents, not the DOD, have the final say on what is and is not our military priorities “in our national interest”. In as much as the DOD cannot escape that, how could a “science” agency like NASA?
Yes I know !