Bad Astronomy

Sometimes I like Mike Griffin

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NASA’s top banana, Mike Griffin, was raked over the coals by Congress yesterday. Space Politics has the details.

My favorite bit:

Hutchison: “Dr. Griffin, like Sen. Nelson, I’ve worked with you for a long time. I respect you. I think you’ve done enormous things for NASA. But you are not an encourager.”

Griffin: “Yes, Senator, I’m sorry that I’m not an encourager. I want to never, ever, ever promise you something that I can’t deliver.”

[…]

Nelson: “We need to get Dr. Griffin to be an encourager.”

With all due respect to Senators Nelson and Hutchison, that’s not why Griffin was hired. One of the major problems NASA is facing today is previous Administrators telling Congress what they wanted to hear, and not the truth of the matter. So we have a bloated and almost entirely useless space station, a Shuttle that never, not once, did what it was supposed to do, and a plan to retire the only manned access to space we as a nation have five years (if things work out well) before we build another rocket that can take us there.

I wouldn’t take Griffin’s job for half of NASA’s budget. But I’m glad he said what he did. If people would simply tell the truth to Congress, then maybe we’d be able to solve a whole lot more of the problems we’re facing as a nation.

Hat tip to Fraser for this. Somehow I missed it, even though I read Space Politics every day.