Charlie Bolden and Lori Garver Talk with Employees

A webcast of the first meeting of Charlie Bolden and Lori Garver with NASA employees yesterday (July 21, 2009) does not appear to have been posted on the NASA website, but two accounts of what transpired have been published — in the Washington Post and on the Orlando Sentinel’s Write Stuff blog.

Both referred to Administrator Bolden’s tendency to choke up, and Gen. Bolden reportedly explained that his father “taught me how to cry.” The Post reported that it happened “at least five times” during the 35 minute meeting at moments when he was talking, for example, about Neil Armstrong effectively representing the agency with President Obama on July 20, and when describing what the Middle East looks like from space.

On more substantive matters, the Administrator reportedly said that NASA’s human spaceflight program “cannot continue to survive on the path that we are on right now,” and agency employees should not fear the Augustine panel’s work.