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Internal Report Paints Bleak Picture of Human Life Science Research at NASA (part 1) | SpaceRef - Your Space Reference:
Editor's note: the following document was generated in 2003 for internal use at NASA Johnson Space Center.

You can download the entire 100 page report (with appendices, charts, etc.) here (5.6 MB PDF).

The first portion of the document describes how the Space and Life Sciences Division at NASA JSC is supposed to conduct business. The second part of this report (excerpts below) opens by saying 'Despite the apparent order of the process described above, the reality of the current program tells a more chaotic story.'

The third section of this report 'Recommendations' ends with 'The issue is clear. Voodoo science is not worth the cost. The limb of the fault tree Life Sciences is perched upon is perilously close to breaking.'

The last portion of this report contains a detailed statistical analysis of JSC life science research.

None of the problems described in this document arose overnight. Indeed, they are the result of decades of bad decisions - both at JSC as well as at NASA HQ. These problems are also the result of a failure on the part of advisory committees - both those sponsored by NASA as well as those chartered external to the agency."

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