Politics are part of NASA. It's long been considered a "jobs program" by people who pay attention to the industry. To admonish Tom for telling it like he’s sees it is a little off base.

I see nothing wrong with him pointing out the “cash cow” aspect, especially since he's the only one here that has worked in the private space industry.

Tom said, "NASA development program is one that lasts decades and pumps billions into Congressional districts."

A pretty good example of that is the Mars Rovers. They were expected to last for 3 MONTHS. We were expect to pay for their operation for that period of time. Spirit gave up the ghost last year after they ran the wheels off it and the ailing Opportunity is still running After- 8 YEARS. I don’t know, maybe its worth getting every bit of data Opportunity can muster but all this time we have been paying JPL to operate them.

From Space.com, budgetary concerns of 6 years ago:

Budget issue: Spirit and Opportunity

An action item coming up shortly is the extension of the long-lived Spirit and Opportunity Mars Exploration Rover mission. A proposal is soon to land on McCuistion's desk to extend rover operations for another six months. But it's clear that money is tight.

"They are now funded through the end of March. I continually challenge them [the Mars Exploration Rover team] to try to reduce the cost of operations. But we are pretty close to the bottom of what it cost to operate these [two rovers]," McCuistion noted. "They are very labor-intensive from an operations perspective...they are an expensive system to operate. I think they will always be that way."

The money request that's forthcoming - with the price tag still to be determined - would give Spirit and Opportunity a new lease on life from April 1 to the end of September, McCuistion said.

This was only 2 years into the 8 year mission.

For some reason you continually get your feathers ruffle by any criticism that Tom has about government. And that’s the point here, Tom rightfully criticized NASA- you Jumped on Tom making it personal. It was obvious that you were angry.

If he wants to inject his political views on a topic that clearly involves politics, let him, counter him. But don’t through your weight around on Space if you can help it. I don’t believe the board was intended for barroom brawls.

Just my opinion and no apologies necessary.