http://www.thespacereview.com/article/911/1

Griffin, Heinlein, and spaceflight

by Jeff Foust

Monday, July 16, 2007

Snip

Heinlein and Griffin’s interest in spaceflight

I have a confession to make. I didn’t get interested in space because of
Robert Heinlein. [Laughter] I got interested in Heinlein because I was
interested in space. [Applause] I mean, I am an aerospace professional
with very minor and fleeting periods aside. I’ve really never done
anything but aerospace and most of that’s been space. And I have been
studying to do this, or doing it, since I was five years old. I got
interested and I was born in ’49 so that tells you about when I was
starting in on this. I got interested when, I guess more or less
coincidentally, my mother gave me a book called A Child’s Book of Stars…

And so, unlike maybe many of you, I didn’t become interested in space
because of science fiction. I became interested in science fiction
because of space. And to be interested in a science fiction as a kid,
and I read many, many other genres as well, but to be interested in
science fiction was to be interested in the works of Robert Heinlein.
But that order of things has given me a different perspective on
Heinlein’s career and contributions than I think many others may have.
Snip
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So, in science fiction literature, Tom Swift, I think, led inevitably to
Asimov, Clarke, and inevitably Heinlein. And if asked, I would say that
I think that Asimov painted the broadest canvas and Clarke was the best
technician. But Heinlein was the guy that put you there. Heinlein’s
literary skills combined with his technical knowledge put you there, in
a way that no one else did and, frankly, that not even the best in my
opinion have done since. I enjoy reading science fiction to this day,
and my own opinion would be that I’ve not seen Heinlein’s equal at
putting you there…