Griffin Speaks to the STA

Prepared Comments by Michael Griffin before the Space Transportation Association

“I hope that NASA is not in the business of reinventing the wheel or ensuring “big government” solutions to space exploration. If you think that I’m wrong, please tell me; believe me, we’ll pay attention. We are tasked by our Federal government’s elected leadership to develop certain capabilities for aeronautics, space exploration and scientific discovery. I hugely admire the achievement of Burt Rutan and his team with the SpaceShipOne suborbital flights in 2004, and I certainly consider Burt to be a friend. But I think that it is difficult to extrapolate the success of SpaceShipOne to NASA endeavors.”