NASA Merges Space Operations, Exploration

Very confusing: the administration says Space (once government) is better handled by private enterprise, but health (once strictly private enterprise) is better handled by the government?

I really do pity NASA. Although Eisenhower's decision to make it a civilian organization was a good one (to keep it out of the clutches of the military that he understood all too well), it also meant that the agency would constantly be subject to the whims of the idiots in Washington. Take NASA's greatest accomplishment, the Apollo program. Despite the accomplishment of Kennedy's goal, the last 3 Apollo missions were cancelled to "save money". But it was just diverted to the Vietnam war effort. The post-Apollo study group recommended a 3-pronged approach: a space shuttle, a space station, and an effort to go to Mars. Only the first was to be approved, but when the station was canceled, the shuttle with nowhere to go except low-earth orbital missions! And even more cost-cutting in Washington resulted in a Shuttle system was so dangerous that 14 lives would eventually be lost. And now Obama has left them with literally nothing to do but write checks to the Russians so that we can hitchhike on their 70's-era Soyuz capsules. This story is just another that can be filed under "Deck Chairs Rearranged on RMS Titanic".

"70's-era Soyuz capsules" that have yet to lose a life

Not so - Soyuz 11