Joins Growing Chorus Of Opposition To The Idea

Former NASA administrator Mike Griffin has publicly opposed the concept of a Lunar Gateway, calling the concept "stupid architecture".

Griffin's remarks came during a meeting of the National Space Council Users' Advisory Group last week, according to a report from Ars Technica. He said that the U.S. should be returning to the Moon "with all deliberate speed."

Griffin, who was NASA administrator during the  George W. Bush administration and currently serves as secretary of defense for research and engineering, said that it is his personal belief that a return to the Moon in 2028 "does not demonstrate that the United States is a leader in anything. This is 2018. It took us eight years to get to the Moon the first time, and you're going to tell me it takes 10 to 12 to 14 to do it again when we know how? I just want to drop a flag on the play."

He said building the Lunar Gateway before there is an engineering need for such a station does not make sense. "The architecture that has been put in play, putting a Gateway before boots on the Moon is, from a space-systems engineer's standpoint, a stupid architecture," he said. "Gateway is useful when, but not before, we are manufacturing propellant on the Moon and shipping it up to a depot in lunar orbit. We should be, with all deliberate speed, returning to the Moon and learning how to utilize the resources of our nearest Earth-orbit object," he said.

While Griffin is no longer associated with NASA, he is still viewed as an influential voice on space policy. Ars Technica reports that his comments are the first real criticism of the Lunar Gateway concept by a senior Trump administration official.

(Image from file)

FMI: Source report