spacetoday.net: NASA denies tension with transition team

Posted: Fri, Dec 12, 2008, 5:45 AM ET (1045 GMT)
NASA

NASA administrator Mike Griffin denied reports Thursday that the agency was not being cooperative with a group of officials from President-elect Barack Obama's transition team. The Orlando Sentinel reported Thursday that NASA officials were obstructing efforts to provide the transition team with information, and that Griffin had a "heated" conversation with Lori Garver, the head of the Obama NASA transition team, last week during a reception at NASA Headquarters. Late Thursday Griffin issued a statement calling the report "simply wrong" and vowing that the agency would be fully cooperative with the transition team. The six-person transition team has asked a wide range of questions of NASA, including the effects of either accelerating development of Ares 1 and Orion or canceling the Ares 1, which has raised speculation that the incoming administration may be planning significant changes in NASA's exploration program.