Farewell Message Broadcast Live To Employees

Michael Griffin, head of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration since 2005, said goodbye to fellow employees Friday in a live broadcast from NASA headquarters in Washington, DC.

Griffin congratulated workers for their success in restoring the public's trust in NASA after the tragic loss of the space shuttle Columbia in 2003. "Nothing, nothing in the world, is harder than picking yourself up after a cataclysm . . . and moving forward, and we've done it," he said.

Although Griffin wanted to continue as NASA Administrator under the new presidential administration, Griffin submitted his resignation several weeks ago when it became apparent that he and President-Elect Obama had very different ideas about the direction NASA should be headed in the future.

"If you can't support the agenda, then the proper thing to do is to leave," Griffin said. "There are many different things you could do with a $17.5-billion NASA civil space program. But what we can't do is squabble and fight."

Although some have questioned the wisdom of changing administrators at this time, Griffin urged NASA workers to support whoever is chosen as his successor, the Los Angeles Times reports.

"NASA will look great whether we're asked to return to the moon and establish a permanent presence there and go to Mars, as I think we ought to be asked to do, or whether we're asked to carry out some other task," Griffin said.

NASA Associate Administrator Christopher Scolese will oversee operations in the interim until a new administrator is appointed. As ANN reported last week, retired Air Force Major General Jonathan Scott Gration is currently the odds-on favorite to fill the role.

FMI: www.nasa.gov