Congress

Speaking of rhetoric…

Another Alabama newspaper, the Birmingham News, reported today that NASA was backing off on plans to close the robotic lunar exploration program office at MSFC. This came after Sen. Richard Shelby
(R-AL) had some less-than-complimentary things to say about NASA administrator Mike Griffin Tuesday morning: “We have been working together up until now. We’re not doing so well at the moment… I’m counting the days, one year and eight-and-a-half months and we’ll have a new administrator.” Ouch…

13 comments to Speaking of rhetoric…

  • This has clearly become a pattern for Dr. Griffin, and a disastrous one. Make some hard choice (cancel DAWN, cancel SOPHIA, cancel large lunar robotic landers), then quickly back down. I happen to think that, given current budget realities, all of those were the correct decisions (especially the middle one), but even if they were wrong, changing a hard decision after it is made does not make the scientific community and Congress any less angry at you while also proving to your budgetary enemies that you _will_ back down. This kind of indecision does not serve NASA, scientists, or the space program at large. At best, it guarantees we are doing more projects than we can afford.

    I find it doubly ironic that Dr. Griffin insists on sticking with a clearly wrong decision in the human space program (Ares-1 rather than EELV) while refusing to show comparable spine in what are decisions of far less individual import.

    — Donald

  • Anonymous-Prime

    This is true. If I were Griffin, I would summon Dave King et al into the office and assure them of a similar fate if pressure from the AL delegation is not removed.

  • MarkWhittington

    Griffin can hardly give the finger to the folks who control his funding. To suggest otherwise is to display a shocking lack of knowledge of the way things work in Washington.

  • al Fansome

    There is reason to believe that Dr. Griffin’s proposed deal with congressionals is “I will give you what you want, whatever you want, as long as you support my Ares 1/Orion/Ares 5 plans”.

    The reason he proposed killing the robotic lander was to help the Ares 1/Orion.

    It is unlikely that Griffin would even consider summoning Dave King — to threaten that he will kill his own Number 1 priority.

    Based on how this happened — I am guessing that Shelby & Cramer yelled at Griffin weeks ago, and were ignored. I am guessing that it was not until Shelby & Cramer persuaded Sen. Mikulski and Rep. Mollohan — the respective Chairs of NASA’s appropriation subcommittee — to write the official letter that Griffin blinked.

    I would blink too if this happened.

    – Al

  • Anonymous-Prime

    It is unlikely that Griffin would even consider summoning Dave King — to threaten that he will kill his own Number 1 priority.

    I did not mean that Griffin would threaten to kill Ares I or any of his other priorities. I meant that he would wield the stick of personnel reassignment.

    In the informal and “friendly” South, there is a lot of communication that takes place among MSFC personnel, contractors and congressional staff. This has been used repeatedly over the years to spin-up MSFC interests, regardless of its overall impact to the Center and NASA. Ultimately, control of this (or lack thereof) is a Center Management responsibility.

  • We spend our money wisely

    This is a clear indication of what is wrong with the Federal Space Program. While I thought about this and wanted to rail against the established order because it is such a waste of taxpayer money, I can’t think of a single solution to this problem. NASA will always be political. Even if we burn it down and resurrect it like a phoenix. Maybe, we just need to acknowledge that it is not NASA that needs fixing. Maybe our focus should be in congress and getting the legislation that allows private capital to flourish and guarantees the rights of these private companies in space.

    Call me crazy

  • canceling DAWN was a good decision?

    Wow, I’m speechless. Ok, there is no hope then.

  • I like how Griffin is setting up the debate. Short of becoming a frontiersman himself, he seems to be doing well making progress while finding the political middle and finding the center of Congress. The long view is refreshing on some of his recent literature. I’m looking forward to meeting him in person at the Heinlein Centennial. Of course, I’d rather he did things my way, but that probably would have resulted in a much shorter tenure.

  • I’m looking forward to meeting him in person at the Heinlein Centennial.

    Sure Sam, you can discuss the nuances of fiction with him, while the rest of us struggle with reality.

  • Robert G. Oler

    Yet another thing Shelby got wrong…gee what a clown.

    It is very unlikely htat whoever is the next POTUS will appoint a new administrator “right off the bat”.

    GONG

    Robert

  • Dr. Griffin clearly doesn’t seem to be in the right state of mind! :(

  • Edward Wright

    > In the informal and “friendly” South, there is a lot of communication that takes place among MSFC personnel,
    > contractors and congressional staff. This has been used repeatedly over the years to spin-up MSFC interests,
    > regardless of its overall impact to the Center and NASA. Ultimately, control of this (or lack thereof) is a Center
    > Management responsibility.

    In other words, you want Mike Griffin to smack down the Marshall employees, contractors, and politicians who got him what he wanted.

    Is there any justification for building Orion (rather than a smaller capsule that can fit on existing boosters), except for “protecting the Shuttle workforce” at places like Marshall, Kennedy, and JSC? If so, I haven’t heard it.

    If the Old Guard start fragging each other, it won’t save Orion.

    He who lives by the pork shall die by the pork. :-)

  • […] takes over and (presumably) picks a new administrator. While at least one member of the Senate is counting down the days until January 2009, there are some in official Washington who are hoping that Griffin will stay on into the next […]

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