The new space plan kills the moon-bound Constellation program Birkin bag

The space agency's inspector general reported replica bag a 10-minute phone conversation last April between Administrator Charles Bolden Jr. and a senior Marathon Oil Corp. official was inconsistent with the ethics pledge he signed upon taking office last year. It also raised concerns about an appearance of a conflict of interest, the inspector general said. Bolden — a two-time space shuttle commander and retired Marine general — is a former board member of Marathon and remains a major stockholder. At the time of the phone call in question replica bag, his stock was worth between $500,000 and $1 million. In an 11-page report replica bag, NASA Inspector General Paul Martin concluded Hermes Birkinbag Bolden's contact with Marathon did not violate federal laws or ethics regulations. But the action unsettled some within NASA and was the latest in a series of embarrassing missteps by Bolden. Over the summer, Bolden said in an interview with Middle Eastern news network Al-Jazeera replica bag one of NASA's main tasks was to reach out to the Muslim world and help Muslims feel good about their historical contributions to science. NASA and the White House spent a good part of July trying to defend and explain Bolden's comments. And earlier in the year replica bag, Bolden upset many of NASA's work force with the abrupt way he rolled out President Obama's new vision for human space exploration after the shuttle program ends. The new space plan kills the moon-bound Constellation program replica bag the agency had been working on and redirects future astronauts to asteroids and Mars — with heavy emphasis on commercially built spaceships. Bolden subsequently apologized for how he handled the matter, given all the anxieties about impending job losses throughout the shuttle program. As for the latest flap replica bag, Bolden acknowledged to the inspector general replica bag he made a mistake when he talked to Marathon about the alternative fuel project, calling replica bag "inappropriate." He has since recused himself from the project — which involves producing fuel offshore using wastewater and algae — and has taken refresher ethics training. "We find these actions appropriate and sufficient to address our findings replica bag," the inspector general's report said. The algae-based fuel research project, called Omega replica bag, is run by NASA's Ames Research Center in Mountain View, Calif. Bolden wanted the technical opinion of someone at Marathon replica bag, while he was considering a proposed agreement between NASA and the Navy, the inspector general said. The inspector general said Bolden pledged upon taking office in July 2009 to refrain for two years from having private communications with Marathon or any other of his former employers replica bag, regarding NASA business.