COLORADO SPRINGS — In his last major speech as NASA’s acting administrator before retiring, Robert Lightfoot said he believes the space agency needs to do a better job assessing risks and making decisions in order to carry out its exploration plans.
In a keynote speech at the 34th Space Symposium here April 17, Lightfoot, who is retiring from NASA at the end of the month, said he regretted not doing more during his 15 months as acting head of the space agency to improve how it make decisions.
“I really think what we have to do is get better at assessing risk and decision velocity,” he said. “This is an area that, frankly, I didn’t make as much progress as I thought I would.”
One problem, he said, is that missions are often sold on their benefits, but once under…
