posted on Mar, 11 2005 @ 04:42 PM
Former NASA Exploration Chief Gets Nod as Next NASA Administrator
By Brian Berger
Space News Staff Writer
posted: 11 March 2005
02:10 pm ET
Story updated at 4:38 p.m. EST
The White House confirmed Friday that President Bush intends to nominate Mike Griffin, head of the space department at Johns Hopkins University’s
Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) to be the next NASA Administrator.
Griffin, a rocket scientist with an MBA, is a veteran aerospace executive who has held a variety of senior-level positions at the Pentagon, NASA and
in industry. Word of Griffin’s nomination had first been reported earlier in the day by SPACE.com's sister publication Space News.
He is replacing former NASA chief administrator Sean O’Keefe who resigned last December citing personal and financial reasons for his decision.
O'Keefe took a job as chancellor of Louisiana State University's Baton Rouge campus. He served three years as NASA's chief. At present, veteran
shuttle astronaut Frederick Gregory has been acting as interim administrator.
Griffin’s nomination met with the immediate approval of several lawmakers who would have to work closely with him if he is confirmed by the
Senate.
Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), an influential member of the Senate Appropriations Committee who knows Griffin as the head of the space department at
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab, said the president made “an outstanding choice
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