Contrary to previous years and administrations, it appears that this time the NASA problem is receiving increased attention from the new American president, Barack Obama. Among the most important issues related to the agency is whether its current administrator, Michael Griffin, should be kept or released from his position and replaced by someone else, someone who can rise to the new White House expectations. So far, it seems Obama is advised to stick with Griffin, both because he is doing a good job and for continuity reasons.

 

In a recent visit to NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Griffin discussed his views on the matter with the employees. He is cited by Universe Today as saying "If the next president asks me to continue I would be happy to do it, but I doubt that will happen." In any case, even if he is still preferred, he would not accept views divergent from NASA's current ones to be forced on him as a result. "If somebody wanted me to stay on but said, 'No, we need to go over here,' well, do it with somebody else," he stated.

 

The matters that differences of opinion could generate involve altering the space shuttle retirement, the Constellation replacement program, or even replacing the Ares I rocket and Orion capsule with EELV rockets for manned missions, as well as the next targets for these missions. And several important persons, such as Obama's close space advisor US Senator Bill Nelson or Dr. Scott Pace, director of the Space Policy Institute, seem to agree that keeping Griffin and his ideas is more important.

 

"The new president should give NASA their priorities, tell them what budget they're going to get and move on from there," stated Dr. Pace, referring to the installment of a new NASA administrator. "NASA has a lot on its plate right now, simply with the transition from the shuttle to whatever comes next. They need to stay focused over the next couple of years on completing their flights safely. So they should focus on that and not reorganization."

 

Nevertheless, should the new president decide otherwise, the proposed alternatives for the administrative position at NASA include former astronaut Sally Ride or the former top NASA administrator and leader of Obama’s NASA transition team, Lori Garver.