Griffin Going?

Despite a concerted campaign by his supporters—including his wife—to keep him on the job, NASA Chief Mike Griffin may be leaving the space agency for good on Friday. Along with other political appointees, Griffin has tendered his resignation as of 20 January, when Barack Obama will be sworn in as the new U.S. president. Washington sources say that he has not been asked to stay by the presidential transition team, so most insiders expect him not to return to the agency after his two-week ski vacation which he begins this weekend. He plans to hold a meeting with NASA employees on Friday, which likely will be his swan song.

His deputy, Shana Dale, also intends to leave the agency Friday, and it is not yet clear who will be at the agency's helm between now and the confirmation of a successor.

Speculation about Griffin's successor is rife. Among the top names in the current rumor mill is Charles Kennel, former chair of the NASA Advisory Committee who once led NASA's Earth science division. Kennel, known as an affable and competent administrator, is now professor and director emeritus at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego. If he gets the job, Kennel will face tough decisions about whether to extend space shuttle flights and how to balance Earth sciences projects with Mars and astrophysics efforts.