posted 01-12-2009 09:28 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by RocketmanRob:
I would be glad to see him get the job. As an aside note, he's a very personable and friendly person as well.

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Later after the ASF diner I ran into him at the hotel bar when he came down for tea and honey for his sore throat. Instead, he stopped for a beer and we watched some of the Texas A and M game with us.

The next day I saw him at the show again and he waved my daughter over. I was surprised with all the people he must meet, that he remembered her at all, but he remembered her name where she was from and made his point again on education.

I met some nice people that weekend both astronauts, guests and people attending the show. But Charlie Bolden stood out in my mind as one of the nicest, pleasant and personable of all the astronauts I met.

posted 01-13-2009 06:41 PM               

Administrator Mike Griffin will host a NASA Update on Friday, Jan. 16, at 10 a.m. CST in the NASA Headquarters auditorium. The program will be broadcast live from NASA Headquarters on NASA TV and the Web.

Sources report that The Obama Transition Team has circulated a name for vetting for the job of NASA Administrator: Major General Jonathan Scott Gration. The name may not ring a bell, but Gration was an early Obama supporter and has been advising him on things since the start of Obama's campaign. As you can see from his online resume Gration is no wallflower. Indeed, having been vetted by life, so to speak, the process of vetting him for the NASA Administrator's job - and subsequent confirmation, ought to be a cinch.

posted 01-13-2009 07:59 PM               

U.S. President-elect Barack Obama has asked retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Scott Gration, one of his top foreign policy and military advisers during his campaign, to take the helm of NASA, according to a source informed of the selection.

An announcement is expected as soon as Wednesday. If that happens, he would be the first NASA administrator to be announced before the incoming president's inauguration.

posted 01-13-2009 10:09 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by LCDR Scott Schneeweis:
The take-away of course is that Sea-Service officers make great NASA administrators

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Apparently, Obama didn't take your post into consideration

posted 01-13-2009 11:49 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by LCDR Scott Schneeweis:
The take-away of course is that Sea-Service officers make great NASA administrators

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posted 01-14-2009 09:30 AM               

Those who fall in with the Barack Obama campaign tend to fall hard for the man himself, and none more than Jonathan Scott Gration. A recently retired Air Force major general who voted for George W. Bush in 2000, Gration accompanied Obama on a 15-day tour of Africa last August and was, he says, simply bowled over. When the two traveled to Kenya, the homeland of Obama's father, the U.S. presidential candidate directly confronted President Mwai Kibaki over corruption. "It was an incredible thing to watch," Gration later blogged on BarackObama.com. After the two of them went to Robben Island, the South African prison where Nelson Mandela was incarcerated for almost three decades. Gration had something of an epiphany. "To see how Mandela saved his country by bridging racial, ethnic and in some cases cultural diversity, and turn a page from a turbulent time--I think that's sort of what the senator's doing," Gration told NEWSWEEK in an interview this week. "He's using his experience to turn a page for America, not only to bring the country together, but to give us a different image externally."

...indeed, Gration's resume is bristling with real-world military experience that earned him seven rows of ribbons during a 32-year Air Force career. As a fighter pilot, he flew 274 missions over Iraq during and after the first Persian Gulf War, occasionally encountering Iraqi ground fire, and he commanded a task force during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Gration was also in command of the unit at Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia that lost 18 of the 19 U.S. personnel killed in a terrorist explosion in 1996. And he happened to be at the Pentagon when the plane hit on 9/11. "I'm not a good guy to have around, I guess," he jokes.

Gration had a rare upbringing, raised as the son of missionary parents in the Congo--one reason Obama asked him along on his Africa trip. "When I learned to talk, my first sentence was in Swahili. I've been a Swahili speaker all my life. That probably makes me pretty unique among generals and flag officers," he says. "We were evacuated three times from the Congo. We lost everything we owned, and became refugees. My wife's mom gave us cows and sheep and got us going again." As a result of that experience, says Gration's father, John, now a retired professor at Wheaton College in Illinois, "he grew up respecting people of a different color and culture in a very natural way." After his family returned to the States during the Vietnam War, Gration says, "my low draft number motivated me to join the Air Force." But even during his stellar Air Force career, he couldn't quite leave Africa behind. He sometimes took leaves of absence to work on village projects in Uganda and elsewhere.

Gration also has some strong views of his own on national security, which may not always be perfectly in accord with Obama's. Above all, he thinks there are far too many nuclear weapons in America's arsenal and in the world, and he wants to accelerate the 2002 Moscow Treaty that called on Washington and Moscow to reduce their operationally deployed strategic warheads to about 2,000 by 2012. "Our nuclear forces are not a deterrent as powerful as they once were, and yet those nuclear weapons and fissile material provide a threat. If, in my view, they're not doing a deterrence mission and they pose a threat if terrorists get ahold of them, we ought to be pulling back the number of ICBMs," he says. "When you have 15,000 to 16,000 weapons floating around, I think you can reduce that number significantly. And make sure nobody else feels a requirement to get new nukes. I believe if you could get rid of all the nuclear weapons this would be a wonderful world." Even so, Gration says, he's a "pragmatist." "As a fighter pilot I stood nuclear alert. I understood that during the cold war we had this requirement. I was defending America in that process. Things have changed right now. But we have to do it in a way that makes sense. I'm not one who just says get rid of everything unilaterally."

Obama's views "are very similar to mine," Gration says. "While he hasn't served in the military he has tremendous respect and admiration for service people. ... I'm very involved in veterans' issues, and I believe there's not a candidate out there who's taking care of our veterans like Obama." Denis McDonough, Obama's new foreign-policy coordinator, says Gration is now considered one of Obama's three top military advisers, along with Richard Danzig, the former secretary of the Navy during the Clinton administration, and Gen. Merrill McPeak, former Air Force chief of staff. "He and Barack share a lot of personal experience, given the way they grew up," says McDonough. "There's a lot of kinship." Maybe a little bit of hero worship too.

posted 01-14-2009 10:27 AM               

Scott Gration, a retired Air Force general with a long Washington resume but no experience running civilian space programs, has emerged as the leading candidate for the top job at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, according to people familiar with the matter.

While no final decision has been made, according to these people, talks about the appointment are under way and an announcement could come as quickly as the next few days. The former fighter pilot and foreign-policy adviser to President-elect Barack Obama has a long track record in military aerospace and has held some sensitive policy posts over the years, but his views on NASA's priorities and technical challenges aren't known.

Former NASA official Lori Garver, who has been serving on Mr. Obama's transition team for the agency, is considered the leading candidate to get the No. 2 NASA post, these people said. Mr. Obama transition officials weren't immediately available for comment.

posted 01-14-2009 10:39 AM               

AFP: Ex-Air Force general could be new NASA boss

A retired Air Force major general could soon be heading up the US space program after being tapped by president-elect Barack Obama to take over at the helm of NASA, a transition team source said Wednesday.

An announcement that Jonathan Scott Gration is to be the new head of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to replace Michael Griffin could come later Wednesday, the source told AFP, asking to remain anonymous.

posted 01-14-2009 12:07 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by LCDR Scott Schneeweis:
The take-away of course is that Sea-Service officers make great NASA administrators

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posted 01-14-2009 05:20 PM               

Space News: Key U.S. Senator Cautions Obama on NASA Pick

Sources close to the Obama transition, however, said Gration helped write the seven-page space policy paper the Obama campaign released in the August supporting the goal of sending humans to the Moon by 2020 and calling for narrowing the gap between the retirement of the space shuttle and the first flight of its successor system. The paper stood out as the most comprehensive policy statement on NASA released by a major presidential candidate in recent history.

posted 01-14-2009 06:46 PM               

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), who chairs a key NASA oversight panel, is cautioning President-elect Barack Obama to avoid selecting a space agency chief who lacks NASA experience.

Obama's choice for NASA administrator, according to a source briefed on the selection, is retired U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Jonathan Scott Gration, a decorated fighter pilot who is a virtual unknown in the space community.

Nelson, asked to comment on the prospect of Gration leading the space agency, referred to the tenure of former NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe, who had no direct space experience before moving to NASA from the White House Office of Management and Budget in 2002. O'Keefe was appointed by President George W. Bush, who leaves office Jan. 20.

"I think President Bush made a mistake when he appointed someone without NASA experience in Sean O'Keefe to head the agency. I hope President Obama's pick will have that kind of [NASA] background," Nelson said today through his spokesman, Dan McLaughlin.

posted 01-16-2009 04:01 PM               

I am officially on duty until noon, Eastern Time, on the 20th, but the government is closed down on Monday and Tuesday for all the obvious reasons. So today is my last chance to visit with everybody, and I thought I would finish up my term in the way that I started, talking to the NASA employees in an All Hands.

posted 01-16-2009 11:49 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by space4u:
It's crazy to start with someone unfamiliar with NASA at such a critical juncture.

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posted 01-20-2009 02:51 PM               

As required, I have previously submitted my resignation as NASA Administrator, effective 1200 EST 20 January 2009. Having heard nothing to the contrary, I conclude that it has been accepted by President Obama.

Until such time as the president nominates, and the Senate confirms, a new Administrator, the agency will be in the best possible hands with Chris Scolese as Acting Administrator.

I wish all of you the very best. It was an honor to serve NASA, and to do so with you. I have greatly appreciated the many expressions of thanks and good wishes which have been sent.

There are many, many others not on this list who should also be thanked. Please feel free to forward to those in your individual organizations.

Good luck to all.

posted 01-30-2009 09:28 AM               

I keep hearing the name Lester Lyles mentioned as a possible chice for NASA Administrator. He was a senior Obama campaign advisor, served on the President's Commission on U.S. Space Policy, has extensive space experience from his days in the USAF, is participating in the ongoing NAS study "Rationale and Goals of the U.S. Civil Space Program", and is also a member of the NASA Advisory Council. Unlike Scott Gration, Lyles has obvious space creds.

posted 02-07-2009 07:01 PM               

Now, the odds of Gen. Lyles eventually getting the nod seem to be increasing, as the White house considers alternatives. Some industry and government officials say Gen. Gration is still in the running.

If the decision drags on, it could strengthen the position of Sen. Nelson and others who support the current space program and the thousands of jobs it provides in Florida and elsewhere. It is bound to take any new agency head months to conduct a review of NASA's priorities, and at this point the White House doesn't appear to have settled on its own action plans. Members and staff of the House Science committee, for example, so far haven't received any indications of White House desires to move away from the rockets and space vehicles currently under development.

Sen. Nelson has publicly talked up another retired general, Charles Bolden, but his chances are considered less likely than those of the two other rivals, according to industry officials.

posted 02-11-2009 05:56 PM               

She said she also asked him whether he had decided who to appoint as the next NASA chief.

"He said, 'We have several names under consideration, did you have a suggestion?'" recounted Kosmas, whose district includes Kennedy Space Center. "I said, 'No, actually I don't. I just wanted to ensure that whoever you appoint is an advocate of manned space exploration.'" She said Obama assured her the person would.

posted 02-11-2009 11:19 PM               

President Obama told Florida lawmakers on Tuesday that he was down to four names in his search for a new NASA chief, although Obama would not reveal the finalists, according to congressional sources.

posted 02-27-2009 04:42 PM               

The names of Gration, Bolden and Lyles have all been floated around Washington and NASA centers for several weeks now. All have been by and large met with a luke warm response. Bolden is being strongly backed by Florida's Democratic Senator Bill Nelson and some key players at Johnson Space Center in Houston. Gration was a key adviser to Obama during the campaign and did deal with space matters during the long march to the White House. Lyles is currently a member of the NASA Advisory Committee and is popular among some agency backers.

But the frontrunner, at least for now, appears to be Isakowitz.

He was sworn in as the Energy Department's CFO on June 1, 2007, as after being unanimously confirmed by the Senate. Prior to that he has distinguished career serving at the Office of Management and Budget, the CIA and NASA. At NASA he was Deputy Chief Financial Officer and Comptroller, and Deputy Associate Administrator in charge of major space exploration programs. An engineer, he used to work for Lockheed Martin.

His experience and reputation, and the fact that he is proven to be confirmable by the Senate appears to have put him at the front of the pack, and he looks like he may be winning support from key players in Congress...

posted 02-27-2009 05:13 PM               

Steve Isakowitz was sworn in June 1, 2007 as Chief Financial Officer of the Department of Energy after being unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate...

Prior to DOE, Mr. Isakowitz held important positions in policy, finance, program management, and engineering. Since 1991, he has led key efforts for the US Government in support of major national goals in research and development, space exploration, and national security.

At the Office of Management and Budget, he supported the White House in overseeing $50 billion in Federal science and technology programs across multiple Federal agencies and led development of major interagency initiatives.

At the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, he was the Deputy Chief Financial Officer and Comptroller responsible for directing the agency’s $16 billion annual budget, and Deputy Associate Administrator in charge of major space exploration programs.

At the Central Intelligence Agency, he was a senior manager with the Science & Technology Directorate responsible for devising innovative technical projects and addressing high priority issues within the intelligence community.

Previously, Mr. Isakowitz was a corporate manager and senior engineer at Lockheed Martin Corporation and a senior consultant at Booz, Allen & Hamilton. He is also the recipient of the Presidential Distinguished Rank Award, a top award for executive performance, and an author of a technical book on space launch vehicles.

A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Mr. Isakowitz graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a bachelor’s and master’s degree in aerospace engineering. He and his wife, Monica, live in Virginia and have four children.

posted 03-13-2009 05:55 PM               

Word is that Steve Isakowitz, the frontrunner for the NASA Administrator's job, has been taken down by a group of his opponents on Capitol Hill.

According to Washington insiders and Hill staff, a group of lawmakers led by Florida's Democratic senior Senator Bill Nelson are taking credit for pushing Isakowitz out of the picture.

Isakowitz is the chief financial officer at the Department of Energy and a former top NASA official. An engineer, he used to work for Lockheed Martin. He was widely considered the White House favorite for the NASA post.

But Nelson and a group of other senators including and Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, pressed the White House this week to pull its support.

posted 03-17-2009 10:18 PM               

A senior administration official says President Barack Obama has chosen retired Air Force Gen. J. Scott Gration to be a special envoy to war-wracked Sudan.

...the administration official told The Associated Press on Tuesday that Gration is the pick of both Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. The announcement was being made Wednesday.

posted 03-18-2009 10:47 AM               

Jemison went to college with Valerie Jarrett, a senior advisor to President Obama. Jemison has been present at some initial Administration planning activities when Jarrett was in attendance.

posted 03-20-2009 08:16 PM               

In my opinion Mae Jemison would be a disaster for NASA. She was highly unpopular among her fellow astronauts because of her attitude -- it is not an accident that she only flew one flight.