CAPE CANAVERAL - Saying he "didn't handle the situation well," NASA Administrator Mike Griffin sent out an agencywide e-mail Monday to clarify controversial comments on the space shuttle and International Space Station programs.

"As I have often said publicly, the shuttle is the most amazing machine humans have ever built, and it has been the recipient of the most brilliant engineering that America can provide. The station is a more difficult engineering project, by far, than was Apollo," Griffin said.

His intention was not "to criticize or diminish the efforts of those who have devoted their lives -- and in some cases given their lives -- to the space program," he said.

"I do hope you know that I would never speak of our efforts, past or present, in a way intended to denigrate the efforts of the engineers, technicians, managers, scientists and administrative personnel who 'make it happen' at NASA and at our contractors."

The e-mail, a copy of which was obtained by FLORIDA TODAY, follows a meeting Griffin had a week ago today with the editorial board of USA Today.

Asked then whether the shuttle had been a mistake, Griffin said, "My opinion is that it was. . . . It was a design which was extremely aggressive and just barely possible."

Asked whether the space station had been a mistake, he said, "Had the decision been mine, we would not have built the space station we're building in the orbit we're building it in."

In his e-mail, Griffin said he realized the comments "have left some hurt feelings behind."

Griffin acknowledged that he believes "we have been restricted to low-Earth orbit for far too long and that the proper focus of our nation's space program should be the exploration of the solar system."

But he added, "We must complete the station and the only tool with which we can accomplish that is the shuttle."

"At this point, an expeditious but orderly phase-out of the shuttle program, using it to complete the assembly of the station while we develop a new system, is the best thing that we can do for our agency and the nation," he said.

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