NASA Administrator Mike Griffin is honest and outspoken, and knows what he is doing in leading the space agency, Rep. Bart Gordon (D-Tenn.), chairman of the House Science and Technology Committee, said.
Therefore, President-elect Obama should retain Griffin as NASA administrator at least through a transition period, and also should consider appointing Griffin to stay on in the top NASA post during the next four years, Gordon said.
An Orlando Sentinel report, quoting unnamed sources, stated that Griffin had harsh words with an Obama transition team staffer who asked about the impact of a possible cancellation of a portion of the next-generation Ares rocket. Griffin, however, termed the report wrong.
Gordon said Griffin is outspoken, and that’s a good thing.
“You may like what he says or not, but he’ll tell you the truth,” Gordon said. “That’s somewhat of a novelty” in Washington, a city chockablock with fawning office politicians and yes-men.
Gordon made his comments at a press briefing in the Capitol building.
“I’ve been pleased with the working relationship with Dr. Griffin,” Gordon added.
Gordon is far from alone in his views. Griffin has been praised, highly, by lawmakers on both sides of Capitol Hill, and in both parties, for his savvy leadership of the largest space agency in the world. Griffin holds multiple advanced degrees from prestigious universities, and is deeply expert in all that NASA must do.
In talks with the Obama transition team, “I have recommended at a minimum that [Griffin] be kept [through] a transition period, and that he be considered for [retention as administrator in] the next administration,” Gordon said.
Still, Gordon said, it is up to Obama as to who will be named to head NASA.
Since taking the helm at NASA in 2005, Griffin has instituted many improvements in the agency.
He oversaw the return to flight of the shuttle fleet after the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster in 2003, with many safety improvements being made in the shuttles, especially in their external fuel tanks.
Also, Griffin has led an enormous expansion of the International Space Station, which soon will double its maximum crew size to six from the current three, and begin performing major scientific experiments.
While he would have opposed the emergence of a half-decade gap when NASA won’t be able to transport even one American astronaut to space, Griffin has soldiered on, making the best of a bad situation that evolved under his predecessor, Sean O’Keefe.
Griffin also has led the agency in some brilliant achievements, resulting in breathtaking pictures from Mars, and seminal discoveries about the red planet that are critical to any future human presence there.
He also has aided a drive to send a Space Shuttle Atlantis rescue and refurbishment mission to the Hubble Space Telescope, a flight that may lift off in spring.
And he has fostered formation of a civilian space transport capability, while also overseeing improvements in aviation technology.