Leadership and Change at NASA: Sean O’Keefe as Administrator

Sean O’Keefe was Administrator of NASA a little more than three years. In that eventful and turbulent period, he dealt with numerous issues. Appointed to cope with a huge cost overrun on the International Space Station, he soon was engulfed in the Columbia Shuttle accident and its resultant investigation. Subsequently, he engineered a presidential decision that NASA return to the Moon and go eventually to Mars. He also sought to terminate the immensely popular Hubble Space Telescope. The Moon-Mars decision was O'Keefe's most important achievement, as that involving Hubble was his most controversial action. This essay tracks O'Keefe's role at NASA as a case study in leadership and change.