Hats Off To NASA's Griffin On Commercial Space, But Push Harder

摘要

Rocket science isn't just for rocket scientists anymore, at least not just those who are funded by the U.S. government. NASA Administrator Michael D. Griffin, himself a "rocket scientist" who has worked both sides of the public/private street, tried to pound that point home last week with a bracing call for private enterprise to carry crew and cargo to the International Space Station. Let's hope he's taken seriously, in and out of the government. Griffin's remarks to the Space Transportation Assn. continued a commercial-space policy started by his predecessor, Sean O'Keefe, under the umbrella of President Bush's space exploration plan. Griffin called for "non-traditional contractors and contracting" and creating "the kind of economy that made the rest of America great and that has largely been lacking from the aerospace industry."