Emails from NASA Administrator Michael Griffin show a growing level of discontent regarding the looming shuttle retirement and the U.S. space agency's plans to return to the moon by 2020.

"My own view is about as pessimistic as it is possible to be," Griffin wrote in an August 18 email citing a possible mission extension as unsafe and an unnecessary monetary drain on resources.  He later described the White House's attempt to shut down the space shuttle as a "jihad" against space technology that has helped NASA greatly over the years.

"Extending the shuttle creates no damage that they (the next administration) will care about other than to delay the lunar program. They will not count that as a cost," he said. "They will not see what that does for U.S. leadership in space in the long term. And even if they do, they have a problem in the short term that must be solved."

According to Griffin, there are one-in-eight odds of having another shuttle disaster if 10 more manned missions are launched after 2010.  Even with the one-in-eight odds presented by safety officials, Griffin still is having his team investigate the possibility of launching two manned missions per year just to make sure the ISS still have American astronauts and supplies so the space station can come closer to completion.

During the five-year gap after the shuttle is retired, NASA will be forced to rely on the Russian space program to get astronauts and supplies to the International Space Station (ISS).  Because of growing political tensions over the recent Russia-Georgia conflict, NASA administrators and other space officials have been weary of relying so heavily on Russia.  

A legislative exemption necessary for NASA to pay for seats aboard the Russian Soyuz spacecraft was somewhat well supported before the fighting skirmishes between Russia and Georgia.  But because of the fighting between the two sides, U.S. politicians are not as willing to pay for the seats, which means that the American portion of the ISS may be left unmanned for at least half a year.

An email obtained by The Orlando Sentinel last month indicated NASA was looking into how realistic it would be to extend the mission of the current shuttle until Orion is completed in 2014 or 2015.

The United States has been desperate to try and complete the ISS before the shuttle is retired, a move that would ease NASA's dependence on Russia.