During NASA's Apollo Program, Mr. Griffin was a Flight Director in Mission Control and served in this capacity for all of the Apollo manned missions. He was Lead Flight Director for three lunar landing missions: Apollo's 12, 15 and 17. During the flight of Apollo 13, Mr. Griffin was scheduled to lead the lunar landing team in Mission Control. When the landing was canceled after the oxygen tank explosion, he led one of the teams of flight controllers who were responsible for the safe return of the astronauts.
Mr. Griffin was a technical advisor for the movie Apollo 13, a Universal Studios picture starring Tom Hanks and directed by Ron Howard. In February 1997, he finished his second movie, Contact, a Warner Brothers picture starring Jodie Foster and directed by Robert Zemeckis, the director of Forrest Gump. In Contact, Mr. Griffin was a technical advisor and actor. In September 1997, Mr. Griffin began working as a technical advisor for the movie, Deep Impact, a production of DreamWorks SKG, a Steven Spielberg company.
After taking early retirement from NASA in 1986, Mr. Griffin was President and Chief Executive Officer of the Greater Houston Chamber of Commerce, a post he held until 1989 when he joined Korn/Ferry International, a worldwide executive search firm, as the Managing Director of the firm's Houston office. Today, Mr. Griffin is a technical and management consultant for a broad range of clients. He remains a Senior Consultant for Korn/Ferry International where he conducts search assignments for very senior level executives. Mr. Griffin is also Chairman of the Board of Comarco, Inc., a California public corporation traded on NASDAQ.
Mr. Griffin is the recipient of the Distinguished Alumnus Award of Texas A&M University, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Aeronautical Engineering. He also is the recipient of the Texas A&M University College of Engineering Alumni Honor Award, the Tau Beta Pi Eminent Engineer Award, and the Texas A&M University Corps of Cadets Hall of Honor Award. Mr. Griffin holds the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from the University of Houston Clear Lake. Mr. Griffin is a Senior Fellow of the Eaker Institute for Aerospace Studies and a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the American Astronautical Society, the British Interplanetary Society.
Mr. Griffin and his wife, Sandy, reside in Hunt, Texas and have two grown children, Kirk and Gwen.