Michael D. Griffin

Dr. Michael D. Griffin was nominated March 11, 2005, by President George W. Bush and confirmed by the U.S. Senate to be Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. 

Griffin began his duties as the 11th Administrator of NASA on April 14, 2005. As Administrator, he leads the NASA team and manages its resources to advance the U.S. Vision for Space Exploration. 

Profiles
At the time of his nomination, Griffin was serving as Space Department Head at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. "Prior to that, he was President and Chief Operating Officer of In-Q-Tel, Inc. He also served in several positions within Orbital Sciences Corporation, including Chief Executive Officer of Magellan Systems, Inc. Earlier in his career, Dr. Griffin served as Chief Engineer at NASA and as Deputy for Technology at the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization." 

Griffin "has been an adjunct professor at the University of Maryland, Johns Hopkins University, and George Washington University, where he taught courses in spacecraft design, applied mathematics, guidance and navigation, compressible flow, computational fluid dynamics, spacecraft attitude control, astrodynamics and introductory aerospace engineering. He is the lead author of more than two dozen technical papers, as well as the textbook, 'Space Vehicle Design.'"

"He received a bachelor's degree in Physics from Johns Hopkins University; a master's degree in Aerospace Science from Catholic University of America; a Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Maryland; a master's degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Southern California; a master's degree in Applied Physics from Johns Hopkins University; a master's degree in Business Administration from Loyola College; and a master's degree in Civil Engineering from The George Washington University." 

Related SourceWatch articles

 * Bush administration
 * Bush administration: return to space
 * weaponization of space

External articles

 * Amanda Terkel, "Griffin Altered NASA Mission Statement To Remove Global Warming Reference," Think Progress, June 4, 2007.