Former NASA Administrator Mike Griffin Slams Obama Administration

Former NASA Administrator Mike Griffin invokes Mark Twain's walking, quacking duck to call out the Obama administration for grounding America's manned space flight program. Griffin, speaking at a symposium in Huntsville, AL, flatly declares that the current administration "does not want NASA" to have a human spaceflight program.

I've disagreed with some of Griffin's positions in the past. But this time, he's right--and a standing ovation to him for calling things as they are.



Here's one radically logical suggestion to keep the International Space Station staffed as the Russians sort out their space vehicle problems. There's an eager, well-trained corps of space workers still available to support such a mission. Let's use them and their talents before layoffs disperse them to the four winds.

Space Station Solution at Hand: Political Courage Required

Surprise, surprise, folks. President Obama's "tear it down and rip it up" approach to our aerospace and science programs led to the downing of America's successful space shuttle program without a new program on the horizon.

Instead, Obama's government decided, let's abandon the proven NASA value of "redundancy" --having at least one backup for any component or requirement--and let's put all our eggs, and taxpayers' money, into the Russian basket. Great idea, that, all the syncophants lined up to intone as they genuflected.

Not a great idea, as the August 24 loss of the Soyuz rocket promptly proved. In the wake of the loss of the space station Progress resupply ship, Russia's launch calendar for manned space station flights is on the skids.

Now NASA officials are talking about the possibility that the space station will have to be abandoned. After continuous occupation since 2000, the space station, begun in 1988, might become a ghost facility, managed from the ground.

And that, my friends, is ridiculous. The International Space Station is the towering achievement of our space era, and it, as well as taxpayers, deserves more than a rolling over to Russian problems.

However, we've long since lost any command of our own space destiny. Why did we accept that? Future historians will, no doubt, have a field day discussing how and why the world's most successful space-faring nation folded its cards and slipped away from the manned space exploration table.

There is a short-term solution to save the space station as a viable, operational facility. Just stop deactivating one of the shuttles--all of which are now museum-bound--and reactivate it.

Then put a commander and pilot onboard; fly to the space station. Plan to leave those folks onboard until they can hitch a ride home via a Russian vehicle.

NASA has assured us there's adequate supplies up there until sometime in 2012. There's room up there for two more astronauts.

Give the Russians a chance to get flying again. In the meantime, there'll be another option to get the astronauts and cosmonauts home: the old, reliable space shuttle.

Should flights via the Russian vehicles resume, NASA could leave the shuttle parked at the space station in case of emergency. If needed, there's a ride home waiting right outside the door.

It would be much better to leave a shuttle at the ready at the space station than just plonk its dead body into a museum. It would provide safety redundancy for crews at the station, and, logically, would make sense.

President Obama, why not? Show some political courage, and some support for America's space achievements, and provide the direction to put one shuttle back into flight status.

Space Shuttle Discovery Lifts Off; Headed for Space Station with

UPDATE: Blue skies and clear sailing marked the successful launch of Space Shuttle Discovery and her seven-member crew from historic Launch Pad 39-A at Florida's Kennedy Space Center. A flawless countdown preceded liftoff, which marked the 35th flight of Discovery and the 123rd Space Shuttle mission. (The numbers don't always match in sequence because flight manifests often shuttle missions around.)

Original story follows.

The crew of Space Shuttle Discovery is strapped into their vehicle as the countdown toward a 5:02 p.m. EDT launch proceeds smoothly at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The STS-124 is the second of three flights that will ferry and install  components to complete the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Kibo laboratory on the International Space Station.

They're also taking components to help with fixes of the Russian-provided toilet. The crew's primary mission is to  Kibo’s large Japanese Pressurized Module, or JPM, and its remote manipulator system, or RMS.

The RMS consists of two roboticarms that support operations outside of Kibo. The lab's logistics module, or JLM,which was installed in a temporary location during STS-123 in March, will be attachedto the new lab.

Discovery's 14-day flight carries the largest payload ever delivered  to the station and will include three spacewalks. The shuttle also will deliver Astronaut Gregory E. Chamitoff , a Mission Specialist, to a duty tour aboard the station.

He will take Astronaut Garrett E.
Reisman's place as ; Expedition 17 flight engineer.; Reisman will come home with the STS-124 crew in two weeks. Chamitoff will fly home aboard Endeavour on the STS-126 mission in November.

The rest of the STS-124 crew includes Michael E. Fossum,; mission specialist; Kenneth T. Ham, pilot; Mark E. Kelly, commander; Karen L. Nyberg, Ronald J. Garan and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's (JAXA) Akihiko Hoshide, all mission specialists.

Space Shuttle Endeavour on the Launch Pad, Ready for March Launch

A space shuttle rollout at Kennedy Space Center is incredible technology on the move. The crawler transporters that ferry the vehicle to the launch pad have been in service since the Apollo moon landing era. They carried the massive Apollo/Saturn rockets.




The two tracked Crawler-Transporters previously used to move the assembled Apollo/Saturn from the VAB to the launch pad are now used for transporting Shuttle vehicles.
Transporter Statistics

* Weight: 2,721 metric tons (6 million pounds)
* Length: 40 meters (131 ft) wide, 35 meters (114ft) long
* Miles: 2,526 miles (1,243 miles since 1977)

KSC has 2 crawler-transporters. Each vehicle consists of four double-tracked crawlers, each 3 meters (10 ft) high and 12 meters (41 ft) long. Each of the 8 tracks on a vehicle contains 57 shoes per track and each tread shoe weighs about .9 metric tons (one ton). Click here to see the crawler moving a shuttle .

The Crawler/Transporter is powered by 16 traction motors powered by four 1,000 kw generators, driven by two 2,750hp diesel engines. Two 750 kw generators, drived by two 1,065 hp diesel engines are used for jacking, steering, lighting, and ventilating. Two 150 kw generators are also used for MLP power.

When they were built, the KSC crawlers were the largest tracked vehicles ever made. (Surpassed by the Bagger 288 German excavator). They move the Mobile Launcher Platform into the Vehicle Assembly Building and then to the Launch Pad with an assembled space vehicle. Maximum speed is 1.6km (one mile) per hour loaded, about 3.2 km (2 miles) per hour unloaded. Launch Pad to VAB trip time with the Mobile Launch Platform is about 5 hours. The crawler burns 568 liters (150 gallons) of diesel oil per mile.

The top of the orbiter is kept vertical within plus or minus 10 minutes of arc, about the diameter of a basketball during the journey. Leveling systems within the crawler keeps the platform level while negotiating the 5% ramp leading up to the pad surface.

The height of the crawler is 6 meters (20ft) to 8 meters (26 feet) adjustable. The top deck is flat and square, about the size of a baseball infield, 27 meters (90 feet) on a side. Two operator control cabs, one at each end of the chassis, are used to control all crawler systems.

Video: Virgin Galactic Unveils New White Knight Spaceship Designs

As much as we're fans of NASA, we have to acknowledge that Congressional and presidential mandates shape the space agency's design, productions and missions. The boundary of "the final frontier" has been moved to include private companies and design, which is all to the good. The winner of the $10 million Ansari X Prize, Virgin Galactic is ready to unveil its newest spaceship concept for the star-struck.