NASA Mission Statement Changed

The problems NASA climate expert Jim Hansen has created for the White House probably have much to do with the change in NASA's mission statement, which used to include the line "to understand and protect our home planet." This line is now cut entirely from the mission statement, which certainly puts pressure on NASA and other government scientists to stop worrying about studying global climate change. This has been an increasing area of study within NASA since they obviously have the tools necessary to do the science from space. As Hansen points out, perhaps the White House is trying to eliminate research that is creating headaches for Bush.