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For other people with the same name, see Michael Griffin (disambiguation).

Dr. Michael Douglas Griffin (born November 1, 1949 in Aberdeen, Maryland) has been the Administrator of NASA since April 13, 2005. As the chief of America's space agency, Dr. Griffin is responsible for such areas as the future of human spaceflight and the fate of the Hubble telescope. He had previously worked at NASA including as Associate Administrator for Exploration. When he was nominated as NASA chief, Dr Griffin was working as the head of the Space Department at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland. While he describes himself modestly as "a simple aerospace engineer from a small town," Griffin has held several high-profile political appointments.

Dr. Griffin's appointment was associated with a significant shift in the direction of the agency. He began pronouncing intended changes at his Senate confirmation hearing (see current plans for NASA below).

Current plans for NASA

Dr. Griffin strongly supports President Bush's plan to return humans to the Moon and Mars, a plan that was also strongly supported by Dr Griffin's predecessor as NASA chief, Sean O'Keefe. However, the broad agreement between Dr Griffin and O'Keefe has not extended to every aspect of NASA, as Griffin has shown a willingness to reconsider some of his predecessor's specific decisions:
  • Fate of Hubble telescope: At his confirmation hearing, Dr Griffin announced his intention to reconsider the decision to de-orbit the Hubble Space Telescope, and to disregard as a red herring the idea of preparing a robotic telescope maintenance mission, which he had recently studied as the independent chair of the robotic servicing mission design review committee. He said the Hubble was an "extraordinarily valuable instrument" that has made possible "an understanding so profound as to rival with Einstein's development of theories of relativity and so forth." Within his first weeks on the job, he had authorized NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center to proceed with preparing for a manned Hubble maintenance flight, saying he would make the final decision on this flight after the next two shuttle missions. He has also emphasized that his highest priority is to ensure the safety of the Space Shuttle flights, and in fact to make each flight safer than the last.
  • Development of shuttle replacement: Griffin seeks to accelerate the development of a new Crew Exploration Vehicle to replace the Space Shuttle. The prior plan would have left a four-year gap between the retirement of the Space Shuttle in 2010 and the planned first flight of the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) in 2014, a gap Griffin called unacceptable. He said, "President Bush said not later than 2014. He didn't say we couldn't be smart and do it early... the Apollo spacecraft was brought from contract award to fruition in no more than six years. It seems unacceptable to me that it should take from 2005 to 2014 to do the same thing when we already know how." Griffin has recently implied the decision to develop the Space Shuttle and International Space Station was a mistake by saying, "It is now commonly accepted that was not the right path. We are now trying to change the path while doing as little damage as we can." This echoes similar statements over the years by other experts including Buzz Aldrin, Max Hunter, and Robert Zubrin. Space expert Roger Pielke expressed appreciation for Griffin's frankness, saying "This is a startling admission from the NASA administrator, and perhaps a positive sign that real change is possible." [http://www.hobbyspace.com/nucleus/index.php?blogid=1&archive=2005-09
  • Personnel changes: In June 2005, Griffin replaced several top NASA officials appointed by the previous administrator. Among those ousted were former astronaut Bill Readdy, the chief of the space shuttle and space station programs, and Rear Adm. Craig E. Steidle, the chief of the Moon-Mars exploration initiative. Griffin has not yet publicly stated the reasons for these personnel changes. His spokeperson has stated "when a new leader comes in, he wants to shape his team." However, Griffin has hinted at a difference in philosophy with Steidle. Steidle emphasized that he was calling on his background in Defense Department acquisitions, consistently describing this approach as "spiral development", a term the Defense Department uses in terms of iterative steps of development with frequent feedback among developers, testers and users at every step. *" target="_blank" >On the other hand, Griffin has said, "...first of all, I hope never again to let the words spiral development cross my lips. That is an approach to acquisition for large systems very relevant to DOD acquisition requirements, but I have not seen the relevance to NASA and I have preferred a much more direct approach, and that is what I will be recommending and implementing." (House Science Committee, June 28, 2005. *)" target="_blank" >As a concrete example of this shift, Steidle's spiral development plan called for two major contractors to be selected in 2006 for major funding to develop a prototype Crew Exploration Vehicle, with one of the contractors being selected in 2008 for further development; Griffin scrapped this plan and announced instead that NASA would choose a single contractor in 2006 and move straight to building the prototype. [http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/115069main_mg_senate_051205.pdf

Long-term vision for space

In 2004 testimony to Congress on the future of human spaceflight, he stated, "for me the single overarching goal of human space flight is the human settlement of the solar system, and eventually beyond. I can think of no lesser purpose sufficient to justify the difficulty of the enterprise, and no greater purpose is possible." In his testimony he also advocated heavy-lift launch capabilities, development of space qualified nuclear power systems, in situ resource utilization, and cost-effective medium-size transport to low Earth orbit.

Griffin told a Senate subcommittee that the first book he ever received was a book on astronomy and space when he was five years old, and "I was absolutely fascinated by it, and from that time forward, I never considered for myself anything other than being a scientist or engineer or mathematician and involving myself in the space business."

Griffin has collaborated with several space advocacy organizations such as the National Space Society, Mars Society and the Planetary Society:

  • Griffin and astronaut Owen Garriott were the team co-leaders for a study commissioned by the Planetary Society entitled "Extending Human Presence Into the Solar System" in 2004. Griffin cited this study in his first press conference as NASA Administrator to answer a question about sending humans to Mars, saying "I would urge you to download that report from the website because I don't have any better thinking to offer you than what I put into that report." *
  • Griffin serves on the Steering Committee of the Mars Society, which is dedicated to human settlement of Mars. Mars Society president Robert Zubrin recounts in his book, The Case for Mars, that in 1991, after Zubrin presented his ideas about a Mars mission architecture with Griffin, then NASA Associate Administrator for Exploration, Griffin presented these ideas to then NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin.

Reaction to appointment as NASA chief

The chief scientist of NASA's New Horizons mission to Pluto, S. Alan Stern, said of Griffin that "I really think he will be the best administrator that NASA has had in decades. I expect he will make NASA shine." Wesley Huntress, a former Associate Administrator of NASA, said, "Mike is an excellent choice because of his passion for space exploration, his technical expertise and his long experience in space flight engineering. He resonates with the President's new vision for space and will add a down-to-earth insistence on logic and realism." Robert Zubrin, president of the Mars Society, has said that "Mike is the right man, in the right place, at the right time."

Budget pressures

Griffin has come under some criticism related to the management of NASA's budget. Although NASA's budget has been increasing slightly over the past few years, they must be applied to the mandated continuation of the Space Shuttle program, including safety upgrades and testing; the mandated construction of the International Space Station; the mandated development of the Vision for Space Exploration architecture; programs outside of human spaceflight, consisting of science research and aeronautics research; and an ever-increasing share of NASA's budget devoted to line-item earmarks sometimes characterized as pork spending. Griffin said he would not shift "one thin dime" of funding from science to human spaceflight, but less than six months later, in February 2006, NASA revealed a budget that reduced space research funding by about 25%, including indefinite deferrals of planned programs such as the Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter, the Terrestrial Planet Finder, and the Space Interferometry Mission. Funding for a New York company to research the Prometheus space nuclear program has also been put on hold, although Griffin has said he is anxious to pursue Prometheus after the earlier-priority development of the new spacecraft is completed. Earlier, in November 2005, funding for life science research conducted largely out of NASA Ames Research Center was cut by 80%, prompting representatives of the Ames life sciences group to write a scathing letter to Griffin criticizing this cut. Glenn Research Center, have seen general budgetary downsizing, and many science contracts with outside researchers have been canceled. *" target="_blank" >Griffin attributed these cuts, along with cuts in the human spaceflight budget, as being necessitated by a $3.2 billion shortfall. National Research Council also concluded that NASA's total funding has not been enough to fulfill all its mandates and remain strong in science. [http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_development/previous_issues/articles/2006_06_16/nasa_cutbacks_cause_uncertainty_among_space_researchers" target="_blank" >*

Pressure on space shuttle program

The Vision for Space Exploration, announced in 2004, mandated NASA to use the space shuttle to finish construction of the International Space Station by the end of 2010. By June 2006, due to ongoing concerns with the safety of the Shuttle in the wake of the Columbia disaster, only one flight had been performed, and the administration mandate required 18 more Shuttle flights to be performed in the remaining four and a half years. Griffin approved the launch of the space shuttle Discovery for July 2006 to perform the next Station assembly mission, thereby overriding the NASA Chief Safety and Mission Assurance Officer, Bryan O'Connor. Although O'Connor said there were still unresolved concerns that foam insulation could break off of the external fuel tank and damage the orbiter, Griffin characterized the risk as acceptable. Griffin argued that it would be better to test one change at a time, referring to the removal of protuberance air-load ramps from cable and fuel line fittings on the exterior of the external fuel tank. *

Career

Griffin's prior experience includes a previous stop at APL in the 1980s, when he helped design the successful Delta 180 series of missile-defense technology satellites for the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization. After leaving APL in 1986, he served as the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization’s deputy for technology, then as the chief engineer and later Associate Administrator for Exploration at NASA Headquarters.

In 1993, Michael Griffin wrote a letter criticizing certain problems in the design review process for the International Space Station. According to one report, his career suffered as a result. *

In the years following his first tour with NASA, Griffin was president and chief operating officer of In-Q-Tel, a private, non-profit enterprise funded by the Central Intelligence Agency to identify and invest in companies developing cutting-edge technologies that serve national security interests. Griffin’s resume also includes several leadership roles at Orbital Sciences Corporation and key technical positions at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and at Computer Sciences Corporation.

Before his appointment as NASA Administrator, Griffin was president-elect of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). He is a member of the American Astronautical Society and International Academy of Astronautics.

On March 11, 2005, President George W. Bush announced his intention to nominate Michael Griffin to serve as the 11th Administrator of NASA. He was confirmed by the Senate on April 13, 2005.

Education

Dr. Griffin holds seven degrees, and is pursuing his eighth. In chronological order of attainment, Dr. Griffin's degrees include:

Dr. Griffin was also working toward an MS in computer science at Johns Hopkins University before being appointed as NASA chief. Dr. Griffin has been a professor at various universities, teaching courses in spacecraft design, applied mathematics, guidance and navigation, compressible flow, computational fluid dynamics, spacecraft attitude control, astrodynamics, and introductory aerospace engineering. He is the lead author of more than two dozen technical papers, and is co-author with James R. French of the graduate astronautical engineering textbook, "Space Vehicle Design." * Dr. Griffin is also a general aviation flight instructor and pilot, and part-owner of a small airplane.

References

  • Nature 434, 261 (17 March 2005); doi:10.1038/434261a

External links

Links related to nomination as NASA Administrator

Commentary on Griffin's nomination

NASA administrators | 1949 births | Living people | University of Maryland, College Park alumni | University of Southern California alumni | Space visionaries | The Catholic University of America Alumni

Michael Griffin | Michael Griffin | Michael D. Griffin

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Michael D. Griffin".

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