NASA

Keep him! Fire him! And points in between

The news that Mike Griffin’s tenure as NASA administrator may be coming to an end has triggered various reactions in the editorial and op-ed pages:

“It’s high time for him to go,” argues the Orlando Sentinel in an editorial Thursday. The paper claims that Griffin’s implementation of Constellation has been “my-way-or-the-highway”, defending the Ares 1 in particular “with single-minded stubbornness”. “Coupled with his cavalier attitude toward chronic cost overruns in other programs, Mr. Griffin has become the wrong man to steer the agency forward,” the paper argues. “His impatience with criticism is a troubling throwback to the days when dissenting views at NASA were suppressed, with disastrous consequences.”

On the contrary, claims Gene Kranz in an op-ed in Thursday’s Houston Chronicle, “Griffin has been the leader NASA needed at a critical time in the agency’s history”. Griffin, Kranz argues, has the respect of people at all levels of the organization as well as members of key Congressional committees. Kranz strongly argues that Griffin should be retained by the new administration, but if not, he does describe the attributes his replacement should have:

While there are competent candidates from whom to choose for the role of NASA administrator, of critical importance is that the candidate must have unquestionable leadership attributes. The candidate must be a respected leader, a strong and effective program manager and a technically competent engineer or scientist who understands the stakes for our nation, the program and the workforce who engage in these high risk, high profile NASA missions. The NASA administrator cannot lack in any one of these attributes; they must be firmly developed in all.

Florida Today, in an editorial Thursday, appears to believe that Griffin’s says are numbered, but argues that his replacement needs to stick to the current exploration program. Suggestions that the Ares 1 should be replaced with an EELV-derived vehicle, the paper believes, “would open a large can of worms and should be dropped.” In particular, the paper seems concerned that the Atlas 5 or Delta 4 would not be as safe as the Ares 1, “a point Griffin reportedly made with vehemence to the Obama team.” Extending the shuttle program is also a non-starter because of cost and safety, the editorial adds. “Navigating NASA from the shuttle era to Constellation will be as dicey as traversing an asteroid belt,” it concludes (perhaps not realizing that the asteroid belt isn’t nearly as dense as you might think from sci-fi movies.) “That makes it imperative that Obama choose the right person to carry America’s future in space on his or her shoulders.”

3 comments to Keep him! Fire him! And points in between

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