Failing Queen Visit 101

...and therefore he was a terrible NASA administrator. Good job, Keith... you got him once and for all.

Honestly - move on, please? This attitude of "blame the previous administration" is getting a little tiresome.

Editor's note: you should offer that advice to Mike Griffin as he continues to mount a counter offensive to undermine the Obama administration's space policy. Pot - kettle - black.

He's a private citizen now. Last I checked the Constitution provided him that right.

Editor's note: Me too - same Constitution, etc. He continues to purposefully and deliberately insert himself in the public arena with regard to NASA. Hence he is relevant to what NASA Watch covers. Pot - Kettle - Black ^2.

Keith, you must be joking. What does Mr. Griffin's awkward behavior around the Queen of England, 3 years ago, have to do with his opinions regarding NASA's direction? Grow up!

No doubt about your rights as a blogger, and you'll note that I didn't detract from the fact that you provide us with a nice assortment of news and also the occasional bit of entertainment. It's your editorials that I find tiresome. Ok, so you don't like Griffin. Didn't like what he did. But he has no legislative or executive authority anymore. The most he can do is call his friends that do. I would do the same if I had friends in those positions. He's a private citizen who is passionate about the Constellation plan and sees this new direction as dangerous. He has some good company... namely Armstrong, Cernan, Lovell, and about countless others. He's hardly alone in his quest to get this new plan sunk.

But for you to pull a video clip from 2007 and insinuate that Griffin is a dunce because he forgot to step back for Her Majesty underscores a bias and, frankly, a grudge that I would think over a year of a new administration would have settled. Just be careful or you're going to give yourself an ulcer.

Incidentally, if your pots and kettles aren't black then you're not using them correctly.

"Mike Griffin purposefully and deliberately continues to insert himself into undermining the Obama Administrations' space policy." ... Thank goodness, I wish more people would.

This is a really low blow. Personal attacks have no place in the discussion of what is the right solution for US space flight.

There are many videos of Nobel laureates acting awkward with the King at their presentation ceremony. Does that diminish their contributions to science?

Let's keep the discussion about the issues rather than personal attacks.

An amusing observation, Keith. Thanks for sharing it.

Looks to me like the security guy is moving Dr. Griffin from his line of sight, as he was blocking his view into the crowd.

Completely agree with you RS#42 about the moving on bit. I have never been a fan of Griffin and think he took us down a wrong path, but Obamaspace has no path and, in point of fact, is placing roadblocks to any path someone wants to build such as shutting down CxP and Orion. As for Griffin, well, the enemy of my ememy...........

It is getting very old Keith. Griffin has as many rights to affect the process as the rest of us and, in this one instance, I hope he prevails.

I sort of see the joke that Keith is trying to make. About using historical video to prove a point about awkwardness. But it's a thin joke.

One could make the same point about many former NASA people (e.g. grizzled former astronauts who sign letters opposing the President's policy), and former Constellados (e.g. "Doc" Horowitz). Hey, maybe we should be looking for some fading celluloid of Neil Armstrong or Gene Cernan doing something stupid in their early careers as a sly joke about their recent testimony on the Hill. That would put their testimony into proper context, wouldn't it!

This is about being passionate about something, and I have to admire that passion even if I don't agree with it. Hey, I sort of wish that Dan Goldin hadn't completely disappeared from the space scene. From a technology perspective, he was a real visionary while at NASA. Mike Griffin doesn't speak for anyone but himself. If you think he does, then you're wrong. He actually knows a lot, so hearing him speak is not unwelcome.

People like Griffin, former astronauts and engineers are associated with NASA and its past accomplishments or failures. So when they speak the media is listening based on their perceived rank.

When your title begins with "former administrator", you're going to get air time.
...but apparently not as much as some dancing lunar explorers.

Not cool.

Engineers don't need to be polished diplomats. They are supposed to be engineers.

NASAwatch is a great resource. It doesn't need to use ad hominems.

http://www.logicalfallacies.info/relevance/ad-hominem/

Mike Griffin and Keith Cowing just like to whine a lot. Griffin can't face up to the reality Constellation was to expensive and years behind schedule.

Cowing can't seem to face up to the fact Constellation is down right brilliant compared to Obama/Bolden non-plan. In the short term, we buy tickets on Soyuz. Hopefully, later this decade private companies will be able to launch astronauts to the ISS. In the long term, hopefully in about 20 years, we put astronauts on an asteroid.

Admin. Griffin was probably the one that thought up having SpaceX do three COTS-C demos with no cargo.The first could try,but is staying up for 5hrs. Not even going to drop off the Solar Sails of the Planetary Society or the one lost on F1 or launch something for the AF Academy to replace the one they lost.2nd. flight go within 10mi. and not dock?Third dock but no cargo?Laughable.I see that SpaceX is trying to get NASA to move up one.Mike is still in the slide rule era.Japan did it on the first flight.42,000lbs of cargo capacity just tossed aside.I bet the President is thinking,I sure am glad I fired that guy.

Yes, physical awkwardness is a strong indicator of lobbying prowess. Is that really what you're trying to say? Because the two are completely unrelated.

Seems more like you found a video that makes him look silly, wanted to post it because of your dislike for him, yet made a half-assed attempt to justify it.

Huh? What does this video have to do with anything? How is it relevant to anything going on now? An old video of an engineer behaving awkwardly in a social setting - wow, I'm so shocked.
What, are we 12 year old girls who should get a charge out of an embarassing video? (I was a 12 year old girl at one time, so can speak with some authority on this subject!:) )
Sorry, I just don't get it. Mike Griffin has no power over anyone working for or with NASA, so why do I now care that he didn't follow proper etiquette with the queen 3 years ago?

When many people are faced with joining the unemployment lines due to Constellation being cancelled (many of us expected some change in the program but not outright cancellation with nothing to replace it), this seems really childish and superficial.

So a lackey of the English queen with an exaggerated sense of her importance (and pretty much ANY sense of importance attached to her is exaggerated to be perfectly realistic) pulled Griffin away. Who cares?!! (except for Anglophile Americans who follow every twist and turn of that mildly retarded, disfunctional family called English royalty). If anything Griffin's action showed that he wasn't placing the English queen on any pedestal. Good for him and good for America!

Keith,

Why don't you post about how Obama gave British PM Brown a gift of American movies on DVDs that are not compatible with British DVD players?

That atrocity is just as relevant to the discussion of the new space policy as this post

Ok, so the logic is: Once you're a former administrator, you cannot publicly state your opinion or do work that you personally believe it.

Alright, then we can apply this logic to former presidents: Don't work toward peace processes (Carter), and certainly don't try to rig or influence elections (Clinton).

Aside from any small embarrassment to Mike Griffin, perhaps the real lesson of the video is the Queen's recognition of Goddard by her visit as a NASA center of excellence in earth and space science, particularly in remote sensing from orbit. This connects to the Constellation debate since billions were pulled out of the NASA science program funding to support Constellation, which the Augustine Commission and the Obama White House recognized as being on a financially unsustainable path. There must be proper balance between these urgent needs on Earth, technology development for the future, and whatever urgency you would assign to human and robotic exploration of space. But if you don't think the first is so important, I have an oil spill to show you, and its coming to you, if you live on the Gulf or Florida or Atlantic coast. And I do think the Queen's outfit was rather stunning and her demeanor quite gracious.

Sorry to pile on Keith, though yours is the power to do anything you want on your website, this is way too much of a stretch on your part to make a point.

Keith,

Offering commentary on Griffin's current anti-Obamaspace commentaries, etc is obviously appropriate for nasawatch; attaching it to this completely unrelated video is another thing: unprofessional.

You lessen the respect others hold for you by posting it. I pray that something bad hasn't happened in your personal life to put you in such a mood to act in such an uncharacteristic way.

Editor's note: Lighten up.

brownian
Er United Kingdom! Includes Scotland and Wales plus Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize, Antigua & Barbuda, and Saint Kitts & Nevis. She is head of the Commonwealth which now comprises some 53 nations (Latest member: Rwanda!)
Care to join? We don't hold a grudge!

Even more amusing is how your Presidents go totally 'wussy' when meeting titular power: 58 years and counting! Michelle Obama excepted of course!
Now there's royalty.

Actually Griffin's reaction showed poor situational awareness. He was between the cameras and our Queen. The aide noticed this and drew him to one side. Alas for Mike the crowds were there for our Liz & Phil. Not Administrator Griffin!

brobof:: Actually the breach of protocol was that you don't get into the Queen's face when she talks to regular folks in the crowd, especially if you are their big boss. Looks like the video was taken by an individual onlooker, not an official Goddard photographer. GW didn't take the crown as King of America when he had the chance, but perhaps if you threw it over to his family tree on our side of the big pond, we might still make a go of it. The Queen is descended in part from the Warner family of Virginia, and there are many of them still around. She is us, folks. No doubt that Mike G. would have appreciated this, had he known, as the occasional commentator on history that he was during his tenure as NASA Administrator. .

The Queen Visits Soil of Her Ancestors

By William H. Hudgins

WILLIAMSBURG, Oct. 16, 1957—When Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, alighted from the plane at nearby Patrick Henry airport Wednesday, she was treading the soil of her ancestors. Her eighth great–grandfather, Col. Augustine Warner II, was also the great–grandfather of Gen. George Washington. Her ninth great–grandfather, Col. Augustine Warner, who settled in Virginia in 1650, was also the fourth great–grandfather of Gen. Robert E. Lee.

Extracted from http://www.lva.virginia.gov/queen/transcriptions.htm

Go Sean O'Keefe! W00t!