An Agency in Transition: In First 3 Months New Administrator Starts Major Overhaul at NASA

The Space Review ^ | 07/11/05 | Brian Berger

[KevinDavis]

If the shuttle Discovery launches on time July 13 it will mark the 90th day of Mike Griffin’s tenure as NASA administrator, a fitting culmination for three months of change so profound and so rapid that people in government and industry are still struggling to keep up.

Nearly three months into his tenure the 55-year-old aerospace veteran has wasted no time making his mark on the U.S. space agency, as he and his team addressed a wide range of vexing problems. He set a firm 2010 deadline for retiring the space shuttle and accelerated the effort to field its replacement. He also set in motion an accelerated effort to come up with an overall plan for turning U.S. President George W. Bush’s call to return to the Moon by 2020 into a reality.

Many of the hardest decisions lie ahead, but as the 90-day point approaches, NASA’s lunar exploration plans—including the type of Crew Exploration Vehicle, the launchers and other hardware it will need to get back to the Moon and stay—are coming into focus. Likewise, Griffin has made clear where the U.S. space agency is headed on a number of issues that have dogged NASA for the past year or more, from repair of the Hubble Space Telescope to how the international space station fits into NASA’s space exploration plans.

[KevinDavis]

[Joe Boucher]

With 1/100,000,000 of what n.a.s.a. spends Rutan has blown them away. N.A.S.A. is a dinosaur like all the other U.S. Govt. acrynym agencies.
Look at how pathetic the F.B.I, C.I.A., B.A.T.F. N.A.S.A. have become.
Spend out the moon and get little results for the buck.

[tet68]

A new broom sweeps clean.

I'm ready for lift off.

[DoughtyOne]

Likewise, Griffin has made clear where the U.S. space agency is headed on a number of issues that have dogged NASA for the past year or more, from repair of the Hubble Space Telescope to how
the international space station fits into NASA’s space exploration plans.

What 'international' space station? Is that the U.S. Space Station they're talking about?

There may be change at N.A.S.A., but on one serious front, that change is woefully lacking.

N.A.S.A. is a United States space program. It's about time N.A.S.A. management woke up to that, and retired the B.S. references to an international space station. There's no such thing!