Free Republic

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — The Pentagon's top engineer criticized Russia and China this week for militarizing space, a move the Trump administration wants to address with the formation of a sixth service branch dubbed Space Force. His remarks came a day before Vice President Mike Pence laid out President Donald Trump's vision for creating the Space Force by 2020. "We are not the people who choose to weaponize space, but if we are challenged we will respond," Dr. Michael Griffin said Wednesday at the Space and Missile Defense Symposium in Huntsville, Ala. "The Defense Department is today working on a means...

If confirmed by the Senate, Griffin could become a key voice in advancing U.S. technology in areas where the United States has long dominated — such as aviation and space — and is now being challenged. WASHINGTON — President Trump tapped former NASA Administrator Michael Griffin for a top Pentagon job, giving him a key role in shaping investments in defense and aerospace technologies at a time when other nations are gaining ground on the United States. Griffin’s nomination to be principal deputy undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics had been anticipated for weeks, and the White House...

Dr. Michael Griffin is a Rocket Scientist whom some people have implied is ignorant, how did he get that way?

Weekend Talk Show *Preview* for 7/1 and 7/2/06 (not the live thread)The main message is the Sunday Shows.  Message 1 will be the Saturday Shows and message 2 will be the show guest links post.  Then I'll post the ping list.ABC This Week (George Stephanopoulos) Meme: Bush was wrong on all the issues McCain is right onThe Supreme's smack down the Bushies (who cares if it endangers the country, it's NEWS!!!) Topics: Hamdan, Immigration, and Iraq Guests Senator John McCain, Republican - Arizona He's BAAAAACKMcCain's back and Georgie's got himIt's such a tragedy that President Bush didn't listen to Saint...

WASHINGTON - A new spaceship could be ready to replace the nation's aging shuttle fleet by 2011 — three years ahead of schedule — if lawmakers added money to NASA's proposed budget, the head of the space agency told a congressional panel on Tuesday. NASA Administrator Michael Griffin said that date is the earliest the new spaceship, or crew exploration vehicle, could be developed no matter how much money the agency received. Currently, the target date for building a new vehicle is 2014. With his pitch to Congress, Griffin underscored a point he has made previously about completing the spaceship...

Internal Memos from NASA Administrator Michael Griffin regarding the NRC report "Review of NASA Plans for the International Space Station" Editor's note: The email exchanges below occurred between Mike Griffin and his senior staff between 22/23 November 2005 in reaction to the release of the NRC Report: Review of NASA Plans for the International Space Station. "From: "Griffin, Michael D. (HQ-AA000)" Date: Wed, 23 Nov 2005 13:43:50 -0500 To: "Pengra, Trish (HQ-FB000)" Cc: "Horowitz, Scott J. (HQ-BA000)", "Cooke, Douglas (HQ-BA000)", "Dale, Shana (HQ-AA000)", "Geveden, Rex (HQ-AA000)", "Morrell, Paul (HQ-AA000)", "Shank, Christopher M. (HQ-AA000)", "Pace, Scott (HQ-FA000)", "Gerstenmaier, William H. (HQ-CA000)",...

Science and Exploration; Speech by Michael Griffin to the American Geophysical Union STATUS REPORTDate Released: Wednesday, December 7, 2005 Source: NASA HQ 6 Dec 2005 I'm here today to talk about what science at NASA means to U.S. leadership in space exploration, and in the world at large. I will also address specific components of our Science Mission Directorate plans, and discuss the opportunities in science that we expect to result from both our new exploration plan and our ongoing decadal research plans. To begin, I think that some perspective on the role of science in our national life...

Leadership in Space - Speech by NASA Administrator Michael Griffin STATUS REPORTDate Released: Tuesday, December 6, 2005 Source: NASA HQ California Space Authority 2 December 2005 I'm here today to talk about national and world leadership in space - what it means to me, and what I think it takes to achieve and maintain it. I'm certain that most of us here will agree that it is important for the United States to be a leader among the nations of the world, and that such leadership has many dimensions. Economic, cultural, diplomatic, moral and educational leadership are certainly major...

Griffin issues a clarification of his statement yesterday about the shuttle and ISS projects STATUS REPORTDate Released: Thursday, September 29, 2005 Source: NASA HQ NASA Memo: Griffin Point Paper on USA Today Article, 9/28/05 From: Laver, Susan Theresa.Marie (HQ-NC010) Sent: Thursday, September 29, 2005 11:36 AM To: Subject: Griffin Point Paper on USA Today Article, 9/28/05 All, Good morning. Attached is a point paper on Administrator Griffin's comments in the USA Today article published yesterday. I apologize for not being able to get it to you earlier. Best, Susan Laver Special Assistant Office of Legislative Affairs NASA HQ 300 E...

Shuttle And Station Were Mistakes: Griffin file image Washington (AFP) Sep 28, 2005 The US space agency NASA lost its way when it focused on the space shuttle and Space Station, NASA chief Michael Griffin has told the USA Today daily in a story published Wednesday. "It is now commonly accepted that was not the right path," Griffin said. "We are now trying to change the path while doing as little damage as we can." Asked whether the shuttle had been a mistake, Griffin told the daily: "My opinion is that it was. It was a design which was extremely...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - NASA managers put a brief but embarrassing setback behind them as the countdown to the first space shuttle flight in 2 1/2 years entered its final hours Wednesday, with only predicted thunderstorms posing some concern. A temporary window cover fell off the shuttle and damaged thermal tiles near the tail Tuesday afternoon, just two hours after NASA declared Discovery ready to return the nation to space for the first time since the Columbia disaster. The mishap was an eerie reminder of the very thing that doomed Columbia — damage to the spaceship's fragile thermal shield. Discovery...

New NASA Administrator Michael D. Griffin has decided to replace about 20 senior space agency officials by mid-August in the first stage of a broad agency shake-up. The departures include the two leaders of the human spaceflight program, which is making final preparations to fly the space shuttle for the first time in more than two years. Senior NASA officials and congressional and aerospace industry sources said yesterday that Griffin wants to clear away entrenched bureaucracy, and build a less political and more scientifically oriented team to implement President Bush's plan to return humans to the moon by 2020 and...

SPACE CENTER, Houston - NASA's new administrator and Texas Republican Rep. Tom DeLay (news, bio, voting record) said Tuesday the space agency will have the necessary funding to implement President Bush's vision to send astronauts back to the moon and to Mars. "We have the money to do good things," said Michael Griffin, who has visited at least seven of NASA's centers since he was appointed in April. During a two-day visit at the home of human spaceflight, he spoke with astronauts, flight directors and other top administrators. Griffin said the agency has received a steady flow of funding that...

Rocket-maker Orbital Sciences Corp. said yesterday that federal government agents executed search warrants Thursday at its Dulles headquarters and at a design and manufacturing facility near Phoenix.

New NASA Administrator Michael Griffin said on Monday he might consider letting the space shuttle return to flight even if an independent panel has not finally approved some safety improvements. Griffin, a rocket scientist who was confirmed by Congress last week to head the U.S. space agency, said NASA's managers will have the final say on whether shuttle Discovery lifts off during its scheduled launch window from May 15 to June 3. Asked at his first news conference if he would allow Discovery to fly despite some reservations by the independent Stafford-Covey Commission, which monitors NASA progress on safety recommendations...

WASHINGTON - The Senate confirmed Michael Griffin as the new NASA administrator Wednesday night in a rush to get the Maryland rocket scientist in office before the return to human space flight scheduled for next month. Griffin, 55, whose nomination by President Bush was confirmed by a unanimous vote, replaces Sean O'Keefe, who stepped down in February to become chancellor of Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. "NASA needs his leadership in place for the countdown to May 15, when America returns to flight," said U.S. Sen. Kay Baily Hutchison, R-Texas. The shuttle Discovery is being prepared for launch on...

Michael Griffin, on a fast track for confirmation as NASA's next administrator, vowed today to complete the international space station, shorten the time needed to develop a replacement for the space shuttle and to revisit the possibility of a shuttle repair mission to the Hubble Space Telescope.

DeLay, Griffin Agree on Bold New Vision for Space Exploration Congressman Tom DeLay (R-Sugar Land) yesterday met with President Bush's nominee for NASA Administrator, Dr. Michael Griffin, to discuss the direction of the agency under Griffin's leadership. "The president gave NASA a new mission, the most challenging ever attempted by mankind," DeLay said. "With this daring comes great reward, and I am committed to continuing the fight to sell the president's vision to my colleagues in Congress. With Dr. Griffin joining that fight, we can accomplish great things for NASA." In yesterday's meeting, DeLay and Griffin both committed to supporting...

President Bush on Friday picked physicist Michael Griffin to lead NASA as it prepares to resume space shuttle flights and tries to meet the White House goal of sending astronauts back to the moon in the decade ahead. If confirmed by the Senate, Griffin would become the space agency's 11th administrator. Members of Congress immediately praised the president's choice, as did John Logsdon, director of George Washington University's space policy institute. "I've known Mike for a long time and have a great deal of respect for him as a kind of innovative thinker, real enthusiast full of energy," Logsdon said....

<p>If Paul Hill dies by lethal injection Wednesday in Florida as scheduled, many will debate what led to the first abortion violence-related execution in the United States.</p> <p>They'll take measure of Hill's passionate, intractable beliefs. His days of showing up outside abortion clinics. His appearances on national television to defend the shooting of abortion doctors as "justifiable homicide." His saying that God told him to kill a doctor outside that Pensacola abortion clinic in 1994.</p>