Space Forum / Shuttle / June 2005

New NASA Chief Changes Top Officers

New NASA Chief Changes Top Officers As Space Agency Prepares to Meet
Bush's Goals for Moon, Mars

By MARCIA DUNN
The Associated Press

Jun. 15, 2005 - NASA's new boss is changing his top officers as the
space agency races toward meeting President Bush's goal of sending
astronauts to the moon in a decade or so and later on to Mars.

Administrator Michael Griffin, on the job for just two months, wants
to speed up development of a shuttle replacement and is putting people
in the job who share that objective. A NASA spokesman says such
sweeping changes are normal in changing regimes.

Toward that end, Griffin announced Monday that Doug Cooke, a deputy in
NASA's exploration systems office, will take charge of the department
in an acting position. He replaces Craig Steidle, who is resigning
effective June 24.

Steidle, a retired Navy rear admiral, was brought in by former NASA
Administrator Sean O'Keefe to head the newly formed exploration office
in 2004, after Bush announced a new space initiative for the country.

The presidential plan calls for the three remaining space shuttles to
be retired by 2010 and replaced by a new crew exploration vehicle that
will start out flying to the international space station and, with
modifications, ultimately carry astronauts to the moon and Mars. The
goal is to have astronauts back on the moon between 2015 and 2020.

Griffin, a rocket scientist who holds seven degrees, wants the new
vehicle in place as soon as possible once the shuttles are retired, so
the United States isn't left stranded without any means of launching
humans. He finds the four- to five-year gap in launches endorsed by
his predecessor unacceptable.

Sean O'Keefe, a budget expert who is now chancellor at Louisiana State
University, would not have had the crew exploration vehicle ready
until 2014.

"If I can turn 2014 into 2010 or 2011, I'll think I'll have done well.
That's the effort," Griffin told Kennedy Space Center employees last
month.

To meet the speeded-up objectives, NASA has narrowed the field of
potential spacecraft builders to two: Lockheed Martin Corp. and a
partnership between Boeing Co. and Northrop Grumman Corp. The winner
will be chosen next year.

Griffin favors using as much shuttle-derived hardware as possible in
the new vehicle, to save money and time.

In other personnel changes under Griffin's rule, the men in charge of
NASA's human spaceflight and space science programs are stepping
aside.

Spaceflight chief Bill Readdy, a former astronaut, said he will remain
on the job through the first mission since the Columbia disaster, a
July flight by Discovery. He has not yet decided whether to move into
a different position or to quit NASA, but said he has long been
looking forward to a new challenge.

Three years in the job is a long time, he said in a staff memo,
"especially for my young family particularly post-Columbia."

Science chief Al Diaz said he planned to retire soon anyway after 40
years at NASA.

A NASA spokesman, Dean Acosta, refused Tuesday to say how many more
major personnel changes are in the wings.

"This is just part of the bigger picture of implementing the vision
for space exploration and going back to the moon, Mars and beyond,"
Acosta said. "Ultimately, the folks that Mike's going to surround
himself with are the folks that he wants in implementing the vision."