Trouble Brewing Between NASA And Obama

All is not smooth in the relationship between NASA an incoming president Barack Obama.

Not smooth at all, unless you count red-faced screaming fits by the head of NASA, his demands to speak directly to Obama, and his telling the person handing NASA for the president-elect's transition team she is not qualified.

Other than that, pretty smooth, we hope.

The Orlando Sentinel's space blog reports today  that NASA administrator Mike Griffin had "a heated 40-minute conversation last week with Lori Garver , a former NASA associate administrator who heads the space transition team."

Griffin is also "scripting NASA employees and civilian contractors on what they can tell the transition team and has warned aerospace executives not to criticize the agency's moon program, sources said."

Garver wouldn't confirm the story, but, Sentinel reoprted, she e-mailed a colleague to say "Don't worry, they have not beaten me down yet."

Check out the reader comments on the item, too: "Griffin is positively insane...his behaviour reminds me of Hitler's last days in the bunker."

-- Richard Connelly