Griffin is like every other nut in the GOP, they always have an excuse or an explanation as to why things have gone sour on their watch…and it rarely ever includes the supposed sacred mantle of the GOP “Personal responsibility”.

There is one thing that needed evaluating in the transition effort…was Cx on schedule and Budget and since the answer was obviously no; the one thing was “why”.

And those answers all start with the name “Mike Griffin”.

RGO

“The Obama team has asked NASA officials about the costs and savings of scrapping the agency’s new Ares I rocket, which is being developed by Chicago-based Boeing Co. and Minneapolis- based Alliant Techsystems Inc.

NASA chief Michael Griffin opposes the idea and told Obama’s transition team leader, Lori Garver, that her colleagues lack the engineering background to evaluate rocket options, agency spokesman Chris Shank said. “

Now how is that possible? A lot of posters have commented that President Obama’s plans about the Ares I was never talked about, it was done in backrooms in the dead of night and no one had a clue that he was even considering shutting it down. Now this article says he talked to NASA about it and Griffin even commented about it. Funny considering Griffin was one who alluded that the cancellation took place without a word to anyone.

This part is hillarious:

“Meanwhile, Chinese state-owned companies already are assembling heavy-lift rockets that could reach the moon, with a first launch scheduled for 2013. All that would be left to build for a manned mission is an Apollo-style lunar lander, said Griffin, who visited the Chinese space program in 2006. “

What heavy lift? They are building a medium lift rocket, the Long March 5, the equivalent of the Delta IV heavy. This author obviously doesn’t have a clue about rockets.

“NASA chief Michael Griffin opposes the idea and told Obama’s transition team leader, Lori Garver, that her colleagues lack the engineering background to evaluate rocket options, agency spokesman Chris Shank said. “

This was laughable, what Griffin should have said is that her colleagues lack the background to manipulate the data before an evaluation takes place as well as he did.

completely useless RGO

Too true. Watch the Simpons episode when Homer goes into space. That is how NASA is now perceived by the general population – occasionally brilliant, massive cost over runs and can do less and less for more and more.

What Mike misses is that these folks are a minority, …. a small one, though growing larger as people grow more frustrated with seeing money flow into somewhere called NASA, and nothing they think valuable coming out. My brother thinks it is not *possible* for anything interesting to him in his life to come from ever launching another rocket again. How much of that is their reaction from my space advocacy, …I don’t know. I do know he, and some like him are lost on this topic forever

I do know that those who squander what is left of the US Republic’s support for advancing space technology, to the point where private groups cannot be stopped from settling the solar system, can kill not only NASA, but can kill any hope for the US to influence strongly the cultural milieu that settles the rest of the solar system. I think that influence is crucial to the future I want to see.

I do know that SLS, and the thinking behind it, if continued too far, will go a *long* way towards winning huge numbers of new converts to my brother’s viewpoint. After all the technical reasons are given, that reason remains for putting NASA’s money into something that can produce what US citizens value, which SLS does not do. The monster rocket worshippers, whether “farmers” , “comittee”, ..or “Tinkerbells”, are doing all that is needed to see my brother eventually win the argument.

There’s a difference between actively ‘DO NOT WANT’ it (come on, it would all have been gone long ago, if there were really the kind of universal agreement to that end that you listed. If all of them ‘do not want’ it, who is left to write the checks for continued operation, mike? Who? Why?) and simply ‘DO NOT CARE.’ about it.

That’s why it’s possible to mutate into a jobs program with insufficient connection to useful results. Not enough care, save for those with money flowing to their districts.states, but not enough are actively opposed or it just would not be…

are there sober pills? Let me know I might need them tomorrow…I usually “let go” on the 4th a little.

Your post boils down to “wow NASA is no worse then anyone else” and that is one of hte problems with what I refer to GOP ethics…ie “they are doing it as well”. My two year old is in that phase (she is acting more like 4) and we are trying to make sure that its a temp thing…

Bad or poor behavior on anyone or other agencies part does not excuse bad behavior on the part of anyone else. I dont have an issue with the fact that most of the military industrial complex is as corrupt and incompetent as the space industrial complex…but that doesnt make either of them a good thing or something we might tolerate.

The “tinkerbells” of the world (and I guess that includes you by self definition) are always of the line that “being NASA we can screw up”…so Linda H. has no problem excusing her flat out incompetence by saying “we didnt mean to do it”…or “wow if we had known” when really she did mean to do it by her incompetence which is illustrated by the fact that despite some solid evidence that there was a problem..she should have known.

What the folks at NASA need is a good thumping. They need some projects cancelled, some people laid off or sent to the worst possible duty station from which they will resign and then some hard ass managers put in who make people face up to their responsibilities; either stand by their work or get out of the way…and start accomplishing things with numbers of people that are more realistic.

To paraphrase the guy on Animal House “going through life slothful and incompetent claiming others are worse is no way to live”.

Get back to me on those pills…as DSCA would say the clock is ticking RGO

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