By FRANK SIETZEN JR. AND KEITH L. COWING, United Press International

The inside story of President Bush's space initiative. Part 1 of 3.

Beyond the Moon

Topping the president's list was stopping the red ink that had been gushing from the International Space Station. Just days after Bush had taken office in January 2001, NASA chief Daniel Goldin, who had been appointed by Bush's father and retained by the Clinton administration, dropped a bombshell: the space station had racked up a $4 billion cost overrun and Goldin claimed he did not know how it had happened or what could be done about it. It just appeared, seemingly out of nowhere.
O'Keefe's views on this issue already were the stuff of inside-the-Beltway lore, based on hallway chats with reporters. He had fumed about Goldin's timing of the announcement. "He had to have planned this," O'Keefe had said.

Our space program was hindered by Goldin to go on unchecked or Clinton didn't have a clue.

O'Keefe is going to be the best thing for NASA in years. Soft spoken but intense underneath.

SteveS