It seems like the fact that NASA administrator Michael Griffin and the space agency were uncooperative with President-elect Barack Obama's transition team is a misunderstanding. An Orlando Sentinel report stated that Griffin had obstructed efforts by the transition to get information and had recently told a transition team leader that she was not qualified to analyze plans for rocketing humans into space. Griffin wrote in an e-mail to NASA employees that the report is largely supported by anonymous sources and hearsay. The whole story was based on a meeting at a book party at NASA headquarters between Lori Garver, a leader of the Obama transition team assigned to the space agency, and Griffin. It seemed like the encounter became heated, but Griffin furiously denied these accusations.

NASA's chief of strategic communications, Chris Shank, told the media that the two were discussing the merits of Griffin's plan to develop a new rocket, Ares I, to put people into orbit after the space shuttle is retired. The alternative would be to upgrade an existing rocket, not yet rated as safe for human flight. However, Shank confirmed that Griffin questioned whether the Obama transition team had the engineering qualifications to analyze the merits of the different rockets. John Logsdon, former director of the Space Policy Institue of George Washington University, said that he heard no voices raised or no blows struck.

Unfortunately, Lori Garver said she was not permitted to comment. She is a former NASA associate administrator with more than 25 years experience in aerospace and she's also a former executive director of the National Space Society. Garver served as aerospace adviser to the campaigns of Sen John Kerry, D-Mass., Sen Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and Obama. Griffin insisted that NASA would be fully cooperative with the Obama transition team. For example, he says the agency provided 414 documents and 185 responses to 191 requests since mid-November. However, Griffin has had conflicts with members of Congress, as he's hard to work with on issues. Rumors of conflict aside, there's no reason to expect a new administrator to be picked before the January 20 inauguration, even if it seems there have been talks of Garver or former astronaut Sally Ride to take the top NASA job.

The agency should fear Obama's plans, as his $18 billion education program will cut the new moon program's budget. Three months before the election, Obama fully endorsed the 2020 target for putting people on the moon, but it remains to be seen what will happen with Griffin and the moon program in the future.