[ironguy]

KimVette hit the nail on the head. I can't tell you how many times we've been pushed to do something on our spacecraft because a Prgram Manager needed to meet a deadline or was purposefully oblivious to the technical dangers involved.

Damn the torpedos and full speed ahead! Good way to get yourself torpedo'ed.

That said, there are some cooler heads around - not all the management is messed up. In fact, we only hear about the times when they do screw up and almost never about the times they save the bacon. My program, Gravity Probe B, was under the Congressional financial gun 7 different times (it's been in the works since 1964!). In addition to the Principal Investigator, several NASA upper bigheads fought for the program. Even now, there are several NASA managers that push to consider all aspects of a plan and hang the cost (to a point).

So I guess it's like everywhere. The good go unrewarded and the bad make the front page!