"Feelings are back" at NASA under Bolden, Garver

New NASA adminstrator Charles Bolden introduced himself to employees today with an informal speech filled with humor and emotion, presenting a strikingly different leadership style to that of his predecessor, Mike Griffin.

Bolden, a four-time shuttle flyer and retired Marine Corps Maj. General, said he likes to give hugs and cries a lot, and as advertised became choked up several times during an hour-long "all-hands" address from NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C.

He was joined by his deputy administrator, Lori Garver. The U.S. Senate confirmed both last Thursday and they were sworn in Friday.

"I'm incredibly proud to be here," Bolden, 62, said in closing remarks. "We've got some great things that we have to do, because the nation deserves it and my three granddaughters deserve it. That's what drives me. I love to get up in the morning and come to work."

The talk included little discussion about policy or looming challenges like retirement of the space shuttle and a White House panel's ongoing review of NASA's human spaceflight program.

Bolden said the panel chaired by Lockheed Martin Corp. CEO Norman Augustine was "not something to fear," and that he would have requested it had he been confirmed earlier.

"It kind of took me off the hook," he said.

NASA is expected to release a report this week updating projected job losses during the transition from the shuttle program to a new family of rockets and spacecraft known as the Constellation program.

Bolden and Garver talked more about their pride in NASA and management styles.

"I know feelings were not something that were very popular the last few years here at NASA, but we're back," said Garver. "Feelings are back."

She was apparently referring to the leadership of Griffin, an aerospace engineer with seven graduate degrees who was known for an analytic style that was not exactly warm and fuzzy and that some critics considered arrogant.

A self-deprecating Bolden, who is NASA's first black administrator, said Garver was the more organized, policy-oriented and politically savvy of the two, making them a great team. He described his own leadership style as "participatory."

"I try to give you some ideas and then watch you work," he said.

He said 14 "incredible" years as an astronaut helped shape his outlook, including a profound respect for the Earth's environment.

"Some of the decisions I make here will be guided by that, but they won't be tainted or biased by that," he said.

Bolden said he and Garver planned to meet this afternoon with John Holdren, head of the White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy, who officially requested formation of the Augustine committee.

The 10-person committee plans to hold a public meeting July 30 in Cocoa Beach.

Bolden referenced disagreement even within NASA about whether the long-term goal to send human explorers to Mars should start with trips to the moon or include extended operation of the International Space Station.

"The challenge for us in the next few months is to figure out what the single most efficient, most cost-effective path is to get there," he said. "We can't get there the way we're doing it right now. And what I mean is, we can't get there with a whole bunch of different people thinking that we're going to do a little of that and a little of this. Sooner or later you've got to come together in some coherent plan, and then you press, and so that's what we hope to do."

Click here to read Bolden's official NASA biography, and here for Garver's.