Word: megaproject
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...evolved in part to provide a useful mission for the shuttle, which could be employed to carry crews back and forth to the orbiting base. But, say Ronald Brunner and Radford Byerly, researchers at the University of Colorado, the station was more important to the NASA hierarchy as a megaproject to stem the decline in the agency's manpower, which by 1981 had dropped to 22,000 from a high...
Nobel laureate David Baltimore, director of M.I.T.'s Whitehead Institute, was one of the many who feared that such a megaproject would have much the same impact on biology that the shuttle had on the U.S. space program: soaking up so much money and talent that smaller but vital projects would dry up. Others stressed that the technology to do the job in a reasonable time was not available. But by 1986 some opponents realized they were fighting a losing battle. "The idea is gaining momentum. I shiver at the thought," said Baltimore then. Now, however, he approves...