Mike Griffin wrote Marshall a blank check yesterday.

As Keith points out, this doesn't exactly square with his previous (laudable) statements about having more (needed) competition between centers.

[Afternoon update]

Clark Lindsey isn't very impressed, either:

MSFC is rewarded for all those successful launch vehicle development projects it carried out in the past couple of decades

Bigelow recognizes that if there is no competition, you bootstrap some with prizes and investment. You either pay now, or pay later when you are held over a barrel by a monopolist.

I would hope for Mike Griffin to close Marshall to wipe the slate clean for private industry as a better choice than leaving it alone with no competition.

In a NASA TV Q&A on, I believe, the 19th, Griffin, citing finite resources, made it clear that competition between centers was limited, that centers that have traditionally taken the lead in certain critical areas, e,g, launch vehicles, would continue to take that lead.

The deal was done way before yesterday.

> Griffin, citing finite resources, made it clear that competition between
> centers was limited, that centers that have traditionally taken the lead in
> certain critical areas, e,g, launch vehicles, would continue to take that lead.

We must not squander finite resources on wasteful competition. I look forward to the administrator's new Five-Year Plane.