Update: Story first
posted at 9:43 a.m.
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Senate confirmed Wednesday night the
nomination of Mike Griffin to become NASA's new administrator.
Griffin is expected to be sworn in this week and ready to
begin his new job by Monday, April 18.
Senate Commerce Committee
Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) had promised during Griffin's confirmation hearing Tuesday to
push for swift approval of the nominee. Griffin's
confirmation was held up briefly by Sen. George Allen (R-Va.)
who wanted more detailed responses to questions he had asked Griffin about NASA's declining aeronautics
spending during the hearing.
Allen spokesman David Snepp said the senator had asked Stevens to hold off on
sending Griffin's
nomination to the floor for a vote until he could get the "depth of answers he
was looking for". Griffin responded to Allen's seven written questions by 5:30
PM Tuesday, Snepp said. By that time it was decided to wait until Wednesday to
act on the nomination. On Wednesday evening, the full Senate unanimously
approved Griffin's
nomination.
During the hearings, Griffin said that his two
top priorities would be safe return to flight of the space shuttle fleet and
eliminating the lengthy gap between retiring the shuttle fleet in 2010 and
fielding a replacement vehicle, the Crew Exploration Vehicle now scheduled for
its initial piloted launch in 2014.
Griffin also said he would reconsider the decision by his
predecessor, former NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe, to cancel a planned
shuttle mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope. "We should reassess the
earlier decision in light of what we learn after we return to flight," Griffin said.
NASA sources say Griffin has not been
sworn in, but will address the NASA workforce live on NASA TV starting at 12:30
p.m. Thursday.
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