An Evening With Mike Griffin, 6 p.m., Monday, November 14, 2005, in the LBJ Auditorium
“I hope we will move out to other planets. I hope we will pursue new dreams. We must not be content to relegate this great adventure to a business-as-usual status.” - Lyndon Baines Johnson The Vantage Point (1971)
President Johnson’s challenge to Americans to explore outer space is as applicable today as it was when he wrote The Vantage Point more than 30 years ago. Addressing that challenge is now in the hands of Mike Griffin, who has been leading the National Aeronautics and Space Administration since April 2005, becoming the eleventh Administrator of this agency.
Dr. Humboldt C. Mandell, Jr., Research Fellow at UT Austin’s Center for Space Research, has worked with Griffin: “At this address, you will get an insight into Griffin’s personality and will see his ability to make tough decisions under pressure.”
Griffin has wasted no time in taking action at NASA. In just his first eight months as Administrator, he has made sweeping changes in top management. Griffin’s current primary duty is to advance the U. S. Vision for Space Exploration which will be the focus of his address. That Vision, announced by President George W. Bush in January 2004, is to extend humanity’s presence across the solar system, starting with a return to the moon by the end of the next decade, followed by journeys to Mars and beyond. Griffin will offer details on how to accomplish this mission in an affordable, reliable, and safe exploration system.
Griffin brings inside knowledge of how NASA works, having served as a NASA Chief Engineer and as Associate Administrator for Exploration. Before being named head of NASA, Griffin was serving as Space Department Head at Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory in Maryland. Not only is Griffin in charge of America’s quest into the atmosphere; as a certified flight instructor, he has a sense of what it’s like to soar.