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Petition-drive organizer Horowitz, who used to be in charge of NASA's return-to-the-moon program that is Griffin's signature project, said Griffin had nothing to do with the petition effort. "This is other people campaigning for him," Horowitz said. "There's a lot of things people should change, but the NASA administrator isn't one of them." Several hundred people have signed the online petition, including astronaut Mike Fincke who e-mailed his signature from the international space station. Some of the signatures are false names and some are anonymous. Horowitz said he has removed the names of people who added comments saying Griffin should NOT be kept on. Horowitz's effort also spurred a "remove Mike Griffin" counter-petition, which has just a few dozen signatures, mostly anonymous and personal, including some nasty comments. A few criticized the new space vehicle design. Only a few weeks ago, Griffin had a public disagreement with Obama's NASA transition chief, Lori Garver, a former NASA associate administrator, about the transition team's efforts to get more information. The dispute wasn't too heated and voices weren't raised, said Smithsonian scholar John Logsdon, who was holding a book signing for his latest volume on space history when Griffin and Garver had their spat. That conversation led some in the tight-knit space community to speculate that Griffin figured he would not be kept on. Garver has not been available for comment, and Griffin's spokesmen say he is not available until after the new year. Former NASA Deputy Administrator Hans Mark, who recommended Griffin to the Bush administration, said Griffin and his friends are handling this wrong.
"Mike ought to play it the way (retained Defense Secretary) Bob Gates is playing it, which is to shut up," Mark said. ___ On the Net:
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