Apr 13 2005
From The Space Library
NASA announced that the U.S. Senate had confirmed the nomination of Michael D. Griffin as NASA's 11th Administrator. Griffin replaced Sean O'Keefe, who had resigned in February to become Chancellor of Louisiana State University. Since 2004, Griffin had served as the Space Department Head at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Baltimore, Maryland. Before holding that position, he had served as President and Chief Operating Officer of In-Q-Tel and had held several positions within Orbital Sciences Corporation. Earlier in his career, he had served as Chief Engineer at NASA and as Deputy for Technology at the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization. Griffin held a doctorate in aeronautical engineering and five master's degrees, credentials that had led Senator Barbara A. Mikulski of Maryland, ranking Democrat on the Appropriations Subcommittee, which oversees NASA, to introduce Griffin as the ideal person to lead NASA. During his confirmation hearing before the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, Griffin had stated that, as Administrator, he would reevaluate NASA's decision not to send astronauts to repair and service the HST. He had named his priorities for NASA, including the Space Shuttles' safe return to flight. Furthermore, he had stated that he planned to speed up NASA's development of a replacement craft for the Shuttle, so that the United States could continue to send humans into space. Griffin had stated that the United States' dependence on other nations to ferry astronauts to space was unacceptable in terms of national security. Griffin had also testified that he supported President George W. Bush's Vision for Space Exploration, which included returning humans to the Moon and, ultimately, sending human explorers to Mars and beyond. (NASA, “Michael D. Griffin To Become NASA Administrator,” news release 05-250, 13 April 2005, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2005/apr/HQ_05250_grifin_confirmed.html (accessed 29 June 2009); Warren E. Leary, “NASA Nominee Says He'll Reassess Decision Not To Send Astronauts To Fix Hubble Telescope,” New York Times, 13 April 2005.)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
