Mike Griffin out Jan 20 (CONFIRMED!); new NASA Admin. Charlie Bolden Jr.?

[docm]

<p><font size="3">Space Politics article....</font></p><p><strong><font size="3">Quote:</font></strong></p><h2 id="post-1893" class="post-titulo"><font size="4">Griffin out, Bolden in? Maybe.</font></h2><p class="postmeta"><font size="3">January 6, 2009 at 6:12 pm </font></p><p><font size="3"><font size="3">The <em>Orlando Sentinel</em> reported this afternoon </font>that NASA administrator Mike Griffin is planning on leaving office on January 20, on the assumption that his resignation will be accepted by the new Obama Administration when it takes office that day, along with other Bush Administration political appointees. How serious is he planning his departure? He &ldquo;has already started taking stuff out of his office back to his house,&rdquo; the <em>Sentinel</em> reported. Recent efforts by some to lobby to keep Griffin has backfired, sources tell the paper, as even backers of keeping Griffin temporarily, like Sen. Bill Nelson, &ldquo;saw the lobbying as craven&rdquo;.</font></p><p><font size="3">Griffin would be replaced, on an interim basis, by current associate administrator Chris Scolese. (Recall that the agency&rsquo;s current No. 2, deputy administrator Shana Dale, already announced her plans to resign on January 17.) <strong><font color="#800000">As for a permanent replacement, the <em>Sentinel</em> claims that former astronaut Charlie Bolden &ldquo;stands out above the rest&rdquo; of the candidates, although doesn&rsquo;t specify why Bolden is the frontrunner.</font></strong> <strong><font color="#800000">Other candidates included in the report include Scott Hubbard, Sally Ride, Wes Huntress, and Alan Stern. Lori Garver, currently heading the transition team, would be in line to succeed Dale as deputy administrator.</font></strong></font></p><p><font size="3">If Bolden is a leading candidate to succeed Griffin, though, he hasn&rsquo;t been informed. This afternoon Bolden participated in a live video chat organized by the Conrad Foundation. During the chat, someone asked him to comment on the report. &ldquo;The only comment on that story I can offer you is that nobody has talked to me in an official capacity,&rdquo; he responded. &ldquo;I have not visited with the transition team or anybody from the Obama administration. I&rsquo;m incredibly honored that my name would be floated around but those are things I haven&rsquo;t been approached about yet so I can&rsquo;t offer you an opinion or anything.&rdquo;</font></p><p><font size="3">One other tidbit missed in the <em>Sentinel</em> report: back in early 2002 Bolden was nominated to become deputy administrator shortly after Sean O&rsquo;Keefe took over as administrator. That nomination was later withdrawn, though, after Congressional concerns about having an active-duty military officer (Bolden was a major general in the Marines at the time, having returned to the service after leaving the astronaut corps in the mid-90s) serving at NASA while the nation was at war. Fred Gregory became deputy administrator instead, and Bolden retired from the Marines a couple years later.</font></p><p><font size="3"><strong>Also:</strong> NBC News is reporting that Bolden is a &ldquo;lead candidate&rdquo; to succeed Griffin and adds, through a spokesman, that Sen. Nelson considers Bolden a &ldquo;top-notch individual&rdquo;.</font></p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[lildreamer]

<p><BR/>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>Space Politics article....Quote:Griffin out, Bolden in? Maybe.January 6, 2009 at 6:12 pm The Orlando Sentinel reported this&nbsp;............ and Bolden retired from the Marines a couple years later.Also: NBC News is reporting that Bolden is a &ldquo;lead candidate&rdquo; to succeed Griffin and adds, through a spokesman, that Sen. Nelson considers Bolden a &ldquo;top-notch individual&rdquo;. <br />Posted by docm</DIV><br /><br />cut for brevity sake....</p><p>wouldn't this play into the notion of having DARPA/Military and NASA become more cosy together?</p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[docm]

<p>It could provide a 'bridge' between different cultures for sure. He's worn both kinds of shoes, so to speak.</p><p>It could also introduce some managerial discipline, which Marines have in abundance,&nbsp;where one could easily say there has been a shortage of same.&nbsp; </p><p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[frodo1008]

<p><BR/>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>It could provide a 'bridge' between different cultures for sure. He's worn both kinds of shoes, so to speak.It could also introduce some managerial discipline, which Marines have in abundance,&nbsp;where one could easily say there has been a shortage of same.&nbsp; <br /> Posted by docm</DIV></p><p>If this is true, then I think it might very well doom Ares I and Ares V as the main moon rockets.&nbsp; I don't think it would doom COTS or the Orion capsuled, or going back to the moon, but I can see NASA starting over on the launch rockets themselves, probably putting extended EELV's in the main running.&nbsp; To me this would also allow more flexibility as it would not only allow ULA, but also spacex to take over.</p><p>As soon as it was known that the regular four segment SRB and the SSME's (both of which have had all their developments paid for) were not going to be used for the Ares I, and ATK was going to want at least twice the entire cost of the EELV program to even develop a five segment motor, Griffin should have insisted on dropping the NASA design in favor of something far less expensive, such as the Heavy EELV's.&nbsp; Now all that effort has been wasted once again, fi all this is true), if the new administration does not want to spend that much money on going back to the moon.&nbsp; I don't think that going back to the moon itself is going to be stopped, but the methodologies of getting there are probably going to change greatly!</p>

 

[docm]

<p><strong>UPDATE:</strong> Chris Bergin at NasaSpaceFlight.com is now reporting there will be an "all hands"&nbsp;meeting at JSC Friday where&nbsp;Mike Griffin will confirm his resignation and the temp. appointment of Chris Scolese until Obama chooses a successor.</p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[tanstaafl76]

<p>Call me pessimistic, but I think whoever takes over is going to have absolute chaos on their hands.&nbsp; It won't take them long to determine too much of the Shuttle program has been dismantled to continue it for any extended period of time, the Constellation critics will come out of the woodwork louder than ever before, I'll be shocked if they don't suspend Ares I development immediately, and we'll be dead in the water until they figure out what the future of our space program will be :/</p><p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[windnwar]

<p><BR/>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>Call me pessimistic, but I think whoever takes over is going to have absolute chaos on their hands.&nbsp; It won't take them long to determine too much of the Shuttle program has been dismantled to continue it for any extended period of time, the Constellation critics will come out of the woodwork louder than ever before, I'll be shocked if they don't suspend Ares I development immediately, and we'll be dead in the water until they figure out what the future of our space program will be :/&nbsp; <br />Posted by tanstaafl76</DIV><br /><br />Stopping the wasted man hours and duct tape and bailing wire approach that is Ares-1 is the only way we will get moving forward. If your in a hole and want to get out, digging deeper is not the speediest way. There are alternative ideas between Direct, and the EELV's to get us moving forward while building a HLV that we can actually afford. I see someone like Bolden taking that initiative very quickly to right a sinking ship. They don't have to remain dead in the water for a very long, several key things can be continued, J2-X, Orion work etc while they sort out and get busy on getting a rocket that will actually fly going, and hopefully will integrate with more existing hardware. </p><p>Secondly I'm glad his lobbying failed, it was really a sad display all around and a serious act of desperation. </p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font size="2" color="#0000ff">""Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." --Albert Einstein"</font></p> </div>

 

[trailrider]

<p>Hopefully the general will "em-Bolden" NASA!&nbsp; With GEN James Jones in there, and GEN Bolden at NASA, the Marines will have "taken off" and hopefully will have the situation well in hand!&nbsp; Semper Fi!</p><p>Ad LEO! Ad Luna! Ad Ares! Ad Astra!</p>

 

[jim48]

<strong><font size="2">Griffin should have done what Dan Goldin did: Don't proffer a resignation. <em>How</em> many years was Goldin in charge? At any rate I'll be sorry to see Griffin go. An enthusiastic visionary and a breath of fresh air after the first dope Bush put in there. This guy was really excited about space exploration.</font></strong> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[docm]

And in his excitement he rowed towards, instead of away from, a 300 meter waterfall <img src="http://sitelife.space.com/ver1.0/content/scripts/tinymce/plugins/emotions/images/smiley-tongue-out.gif" border="0" alt="Tongue out" title="Tongue out" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[BrianSlee]

Good for us.&nbsp;&nbsp;Hopefully Mr. Bolden will clean house and get us back on track. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p>"I am therefore I think" </p><p>"The only thing "I HAVE TO DO!!" is die, in everything else I have freewill" Brian P. Slee</p> </div>

 

[JonClarke]

<p><BR/>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>Hopefully the general will "em-Bolden" NASA!&nbsp; With GEN James Jones in there, and GEN Bolden at NASA, the Marines will have "taken off" and hopefully will have the situation well in hand!&nbsp; Semper Fi!Ad LEO! Ad Luna! Ad Ares! Ad Astra! <br />Posted by trailrider</DIV></p><p>The last thing that NASA needs is a bunch of military running it.<br /></p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em>Whether we become a multi-planet species with unlimited horizons, or are forever confined to Earth will be decided in the twenty-first century amid the vast plains, rugged canyons and lofty mountains of Mars</em>  Arthur Clarke</p> </div>

 

[JonClarke]

<p><BR/>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>And in his excitement he rowed towards, instead of away from, a 300 meter waterfall <br />Posted by docm</DIV></p><p>Yes we all know how much better you think would have done things.</p><p>Griffin has been excellent overal, it is a crazy system that sees people resigning from senior positions just because of a change in government.</p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em>Whether we become a multi-planet species with unlimited horizons, or are forever confined to Earth will be decided in the twenty-first century amid the vast plains, rugged canyons and lofty mountains of Mars</em>  Arthur Clarke</p> </div>

 

[rubicondsrv]

<p><BR/>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>Yes we all know how much better you think would have done things.Griffin has been excellent overal, it is a crazy system that sees people resigning from senior positions just because of a change in government. <br />Posted by jonclarke</DIV><br /><br />when griffin was hired he said that he did not intend to continue as nasa administrator past the end of the bush admin (regardless of who won)</p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[kevin_space_001]

Too bad.. I actually liked Mike..

 

[lampblack]

<p><font size="2">Alas, I had just turned 13 in December 1972 when Apollo 17 visited the moon. I remember looking up at the moon and reflecting on the fact that men were up there, walking around. I assumed then that during my life, such things would become commonplace.</font></p><p><font size="2">At least Griffin had a coherent vision and -- whatever glitches there may have been -- was leading the national space program in a meaningful direction. Now, I'm afraid I will become an old, old man, and the U.S. will still be stuck in low-earth orbit.</font></p><p><font size="2">How depressing.</font></p><p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font color="#0000ff"><strong>Just tell the truth and let the chips fall...</strong></font> </div>

 

[trailrider]

<p>"The last thing that NASA needs is a bunch of military running it."</p><p>Well, we see how well the all-civilian administration has run things!&nbsp;In the first place, <em>if </em>it is GEN Bolden, he's also been a part of the Shuttle program, and as a general officer knows how to get things done!&nbsp; You don't get to go back to the military from duty with NASA or any other "civilian" agency without knowing how to play some politics!&nbsp; But, only time will tell.&nbsp; There is a lot that will depend on what Congress and the new President decide that will determine what the next NASA Administrator can and will be able to do.&nbsp; Hopefully, we will be able to get out of LEO on the next administrator's watch! Whether by Ares I or Direct 2.5-1/2 or by Ares V or a Wiley E. Coyote Acme slingshot!&nbsp; The planets await.&nbsp; Will America be in the lead, or will we become the Portugal of the Space Age?</p><p>Ad LEO! Ad Luna! Ad Ares! Ad Astra!</p>

 

[MarkStanaway]

<p>Mike Griffon appreciated that you needed to get runs on the board to have continued political support for a programme. Unfortunately the Bush administration never delivered the funds that were necessary to get project Consterllation really going. The first tangible indicator of progress, the test flight of Ares 1-X, should have occurred within 2 or 3 years after&nbsp; the programme's announcement. Because it has been such a drawn out affair the perception has been presented that this is a programme that has lost its way and is now vulnerable to termination by the new team.</p><p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[docm]

<p>Much of that time's been spent chasing TO and other nasties. The program may have been delayed a bit by funding, but that doesn't explain the obvious design flaws and Griffin's blind eye support for a system with more bugs than a roach nest.&nbsp;</p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>