NASA Administrator Griffin's on NRC Review of ISS Science and Lunar Plans
FYI,
The top brass at NASA are worried about their future - worried enough to release
this candid e-mail communication discussing how worried they are. What I am
seeing, reading between the lines, is that Griffin and his management team have
inherited a train wreck in progress and are despirately trying to figure out how
to survive it.
"Internal Memos from NASA Administrator Michael Griffin regarding the
NRC report 'Review of NASA Plans for the International Space Station'"
NASA E-mail via Space.Ref
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=18960
: Editor's note: The email exchanges below occurred between Mike
: Griffin and his senior staff between 22/23 November 2005 in
: reaction to the release of the NRC Report: Review of NASA Plans for
: the International Space Station.
: All-
: Thanks to Trish. This is helpful. I've read the report, and there
: is not much good in it for us. Not surprising, however, coming from
: Len Fisk.
: I'm copying a bunch of folks on this note because it concerns the
: nucleus of a strategic problem for us in going forward with the
: VSE. Bottom line, we're going to have to answer the specific issues
: in this report. We're going to have to define the program of
: activity for ISS that obtains from it the utility that it can
: provide. We may NOT be able to fund that activity at present; I
: consider that almost a fact on the ground. But we can put in place
: the kind of peer-reviewed science that we WOULD do, given the
: money, and that we WILL do, when we can afford it. This is the "non
: SMD science" to which Trish refers.
: Scotty/Gerst, defining the program that gets the most out of ISS
: for Exploration is squarely in your court. But others can and will
: help where possible.
: The next step out is the Moon. We're going to get, and probably
: already are getting, the same criticisms as for ISS. This is
: the "why go to the Moon?" theme.
: We've got the architecture in place and generally accepted. That's
: the "interstate highway" analogy I've made. So now, we need to
: start talking about those exit ramps I've referred to. What ARE we
: going to do on the Moon? To what end? And with whom? I have ideas,
: of course. (I ALWAYS have ideas; it's a given.) But my ideas don't
: matter. Now is the time to start working with our own science
: community and with the Internationals to define the program of
: lunar activity that makes the most sense to the most people. I keep
: saying -- because it's true -- that it's not the trip that matters,
: it's the destination, and what we do there. We got to get started
: on this.
: Shana will be taking the lead on working with Obie and the
: International Partners to get started down the track on pulling
: together an international coalition. They are annoyed and impatient
: with our delays since the Vision speech. We need to be, and be seen
: to be, proactive in seeking their involvement. We need to work with
: them, not prescribe to them, regarding what we can do together on
: the Moon.
: Beyond the Moon is Mars, robots first. Most of the Internationals
: are at present more interested in Mars, as I hear the gossip. Fine,
: we can't tell them what to be interested in. But our road to Mars
: goes through the Moon, and we should be able to enlist them to join
: on that path.
: Everyone on this address list wants to be part of making
: Exploration what NASA does. It won't survive if all we worry about
: is getting there. That was the essential first step. But it has to
: sell itself on what it is that we DO there. The kind of criticism
: we're receiving in connection with the ISS, in the report Trish
: references, needs to be addressed for ISS, and needs to be "headed
: off at the pass" for the Moon.
: Mary and Scotty, what we do at our destinations is in your
: bailiwick. But let's resolve to get some runway behind us on this,
: and soon.
: Mike
--
Mark Reiff <markreiff@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
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