Lunar Development

Keith Cowing Needs a Civics Lesson

From  NASA WATCH

September 30th

GRIFFIN STEPS IN IT AGAIN

NASA chief: U.S. may end flights with Russians, AP

"NASA's top official said today that the future of U.S participation in Russian space flights is in doubt due to a congressional measure that aims to punish Moscow for its cooperation with Iran."

Editor's note:Who is advising Griffin on this issue? The last time I checked Congress was looking forward to revising the INA to help NASA.

Keith, until Congress does revise The Iran Non-proliferation Agreement (INA), it is the law of the land and Griffin would be in violation of it if he tried to use Russian space flights. Griffin's back is against the wall, don't criticize him.

Blame Congress for not fixing it sooner.

Blame Rohrbacher for writing the problem provisions in the first place.

Griffin had no part in putting us in this Hobson's choice of choosing weakness on weapons of  mass destruction technology proliferation to Iran or the Space Station. The fault for this situation lies squarely at the feet of Representative Dana Rohrbacher.

Michael Griffin-The Bravest Man on Earth

An article by Traci Watson in  USA TODAY stated

The space shuttle and International Space Station — nearly the whole of the U.S. manned space program for the past three decades — were mistakes, NASA chief Michael Griffin said Tuesday.

Finally someone in power in the Aerospace community willing to admit turning away from the Moon was a major error. And it was the NASA Administrator no less. This man has guts. This is what we needed to change NASA culture to go forward without the blinders which make safe operation impossible.  This admission is getting down to bed rock honesty and breaking the denial that has plagued NASA for decades. Also see Florida Today and .

Thank you and Congratulations Dr. Griffin.

Keith Cowing on  NASAWATCH

Mike Griffin speaks for the President. The reactions take one (or more) of three directions: Griffin is unable to articulate his ideas clearly; there is a serious disconnect between stated White House policy and its implementation; or the White House no longer (and perhaps never did) care about space.

First, being a head of an agency doesn't mean you speak for the President.   There are very few people who do that. An agency head saying that a mistake was made decades ago by the previous management of that agency bears absolutely no bearing on the President or his policies.  In fact the Presidents Policy has been to reverse the error for the last 18 Months.  Second, Griffin articulated his ideas very clearly.  Third, I see no disconnect at all with the White House.  Forth, NASA is only 1% of the Federal Budget, NASA should be well run enough  and be able to form appropriate goals and implement them well enough that the president doesn't have to care, except when he is taking credit for their successes.

I talked to Dr. Griffin last night at the Women in Aerospace (WIA) awards reception before this story came out , I wish I had known about it so I could have thanked him personally for his courage. We talked about NASA's Lunar planning,,  he said they are working on the plan for the lunar surface now, he thought energy was among the justifications for going to the Moon. I suggested that Mid January would be a prime time to push the lunar energy justification in the Media as that is when the sky high heating bills will hit, estimated to be 250% of last years. I also suggested that NASA should establish a strong community of groups interested in using the Moon so that it is less likely that the return to the Moon will be victim of the next election.   

It is not Whether You Win or Lose, It is Where You Place the Blame

The Administrations failure to fund the Hubble repair mission is probably more about politics than science. Bush is a lame duck, even though it the first week of his second term, he can not be re-elected, so canceling the Hubble will not hurt him. Hubble will probably be funded by congress, so Bush can save a billion in his budget and look more fiscally responsible than the congress. Also if the shuttle fails on a Hubble repair mission it is not The Presidents or NASAs fault, its congress. This is a smart political move in several ways.

On the other hand this could be the first leg of the current human space flight program to fall. First the Administration puts forward the plan to de-orbit Hubble, then it is announced the shuttle is delayed, possibly repeatedly, until in is permanently grounded, then announce plans to de-orbit or abandon the ISS. Now that the election is over Bush doesn’t need to worry about votes in Texas, Florida and California, and as his inauguration speech announced he is not concerned with the views of other governments so why not do something useful with that six billion a year like go back to the Moon and start lunar development.