Former NASA administrator Michael Griffin praised President Obama’s choice for his successor, former astronaut Charles Bolden. Griffin had hoped to retain the job, but the new president refused to keep Griffin, a Bush appointee. (Griffin himself succeeded another Bush appointee, Sean O’Keefe who was, in my opinion, the worst administrator ever.)
Instead, Griffin is now an [...]

Nobody knows and the decision hasn’t been made about who the next NASA administrator will be. But, despite a petition campaign by former astronaut Scott Horowitz to retain Michael Griffin, it appears that Griffin will be replaced.
But with whom?
One possibility is astronaut Charles F. Bolton Jr. With four shuttle missions under his belt, one might [...]

Today’s “Science Times” section of the NY Times has two articles about space: one about NASA’s future and another about private space companies.
New Boosters Compared
The first article nicely explains quite a bit about the Constellation program (the successor to the shuttle) and the booster (Ares I and Ares V)—and how they differ. The Ares one [...]

According to many news sources (including Time magazine), there’s a battle going on between (Bush appointed) NASA Administrator Michael Griffin and the President-Elect. Could this be the end of America’s next moonlanding?
Meet the New Boss
The alleged shouting match between Obama’s transition team member Lori Garver and Griffin doesn’t bode well for Griffin’s job security. Reports [...]

Today’s New York Times has an op-ed called NASA’s Black Hole Budgets.
S. Allen Stern, a former associate administrator of the agency, outlines his complaints about NASA’s spending. Mr. Stern, who is an astrophysicist, seems to hate politics. I understand his concerns, but politics is a reality which must be dealt with.
Here’s the key points:

NASA’s missions [...]

NASA’s administrator, Michael Griffin, is a Republican. But his job is to make NASA successful, and he knows that success requires political support.
Dr. Griffin sent a note of thanks to Barack Obama, for his support in allowing NASA to continue purchasing rides to the International Space Station from Russia. Without new legislation, the practice would [...]