Michael Griffin
Michael Griffin
This prominent aerospace engineer and physicist served from 2005 until 2009 as Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Previously, he had headed Johns Hopkins University's Space Department.
ProfessionEngineer
Date of Birth1 November 1949
begin bigger chase dogs expensive flight future hope kept lie means people porch program proud renewed sad shuttle space time undertaken younger
This is a sad day for NASA. ... But also one of renewed hope for the future of NASA's manned space flight program. The end of the Shuttle Program means that we will begin a new program that will be bigger better and more expensive than anything we have undertaken before. I'm proud of the people that have kept the shuttle going, but the Shuttle Program is done. Its time for the shuttle, like an old dog, to lie on the porch and let the younger dogs chase the rabbits.
pay
pay as you go and what you can afford.
future investment program space
The space program is a long-term investment in our future,
apollo
It is very Apollo-like ... but bigger. Think Apollo on steroids.
aviation common flight hardware listening opinions people sending signals spend stuff test theme time
If you spend much time on this stuff and aviation accidents, a common theme is that of not listening to the signals the hardware is sending - the test results, the flight results, the dissenting opinions of the people involved.
assembly facility soon talk visiting
I will be visiting Stennis and the Michoud Assembly Facility soon to talk with our people.
appeal believes decision employees nasa path understand within
It is important for our employees within NASA to understand that they can appeal a decision by their management. There is a path for everyone to appeal a decision that he or she believes is wrong, and there will be no retribution for appealing.
building committed departing fly included number remains shuttle space vision
The administration remains committed to the vision for space exploration it has announced. That included a number of components, one of which addressed the fly out of the shuttle and the building of the station. We aren't departing from that.
begin maybe objects region scientists within
It is fantastically interesting to me to have a chance, maybe within my lifetime, for scientists to see up-close what those objects look like and to begin our reconnaissance of that region of space.
bold space vision
It's a very bold vision for space exploration,
befall disasters hope moon natural none returning states talking united worse
We're talking about returning to the Moon in 2018. There will be a lot more hurricanes and a lot more other natural disasters to befall the United States and the world in that time, I hope none worse than Katrina,
assembly built choice chose complete confidence confronted fact focused former high largely logistics possibly redefining sequence station
We focused on redefining the station assembly sequence in fact to concentrate on assembly, and we are largely deferring utilization and we are paring logistics to the bone. We don't like that, but confronted with a choice between having a high confidence to be able to complete the assembly of the station and deferring utilization, or utilizing it heavily as we built it and possibly not finishing, we chose the former course.
bullet turn
This time, it was Michoud's turn to take a bullet for the team,
apollo build designs far foundation greater proven shuttle spacecraft systems
This spacecraft and systems will build upon the foundation of the proven designs and technologies used in the Apollo and space shuttle programs, while having far greater capability.