NASA’s new boss is getting the agency off the ground, literally and politically, two years after the agency’s mission and morale both disintegrated in the Columbia shuttle tragedy. On the job only a month, Michael Griffin is showing exactly the leadership the National Aeronautics and Space Administration needs.
Griffin even resurrected hope for the Hubble Telescope. That issue keenly interests the University of Colorado and Ball Aerospace in Boulder, which built two scientific instruments that were supposed to be installed on the next Hubble servicing mission in 2006. Last year, then-NASA administrator Sean O’Keefe opted to let the telescope die prematurely, but after a public outcry he said Hubble would be saved if robots could do the repairs. But the National Academy of Sciences says a robotic mission isn’t feasible.
Griffin is taking a fresh look: Last week, he told NASA engineers to start planning for a 2007 shuttle mission that would extend Hubble’s life. Griffin didn’t promise that the mission is a go because he doesn’t yet have all the data in hand. Still, his policy of letting science guide his actions bodes well for NASA.
His focus likely stems from his training as an engineer and physicist (he has seven university diplomas: a doctorate, a bachelor’s degree and five master’s degrees) and work on projects ranging from Hubble to missile defense.
To save Hubble, Griffin first must get the shuttle flying. Concerns about possible ice damage have delayed the shuttle Discovery’s launch until July. But the postponement shows that Griffin has heeded advice from an expert panel that analyzed safety gaps after Columbia’s demise.
Griffin also wants to change – and speed up – how NASA creates the next generation of spacecraft, which would replace the shuttle, help send astronauts to the moon and set the stage for going to Mars. The old way would cost too much and create a gap between the shuttle’s retirement in 2010 and the new U.S. spaceship’s scheduled debut in 2014, leaving America without its own spacecraft and thus dependent on Russian vehicles.
Griffin’s bold plan also might solve a bugaboo in President Bush’s moon-Mars push: how to do it without sacrificing NASA’s important, close-to-home tasks.
Griffin must juggle these multiple goals on a slim budget. Perhaps he should adopt Kansas’ state motto: To the stars, through difficulties.
