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WASHINGTON – A former space industry executive who joined NASA to guide his renewed lunar exploration strategy left the agency after only a month and a half.
In an internal memo of May 23, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine announced that Mark Sirangelo had stepped down as a special assistant director after Congress rejected the agency's reorganization plan.
This reorganization would have created a "Moon to Mars Mission Direction" incorporating elements from the existing directions of the Human Exploration and Operations (HEOMD) mission and space technology. Bridenstine announced its intention to create leadership in March, when Vice President Mike Pence has set a goal of bringing humans to the Moon by 2024, stating that this one "Would focus on the formulation and execution of exploration development activities".
Bridenstine then announced in a memo dated April 8 that Sirangelo, former executive vice president of Space Systems of Sierra Nevada Corporation, had joined the agency as a special assistant with "overall responsibility for working within mission directorates to further develop the agency's plans for exploration. Campaign ". Sirangelo has been widely regarded as the likely choice to lead this new mission direction.
Congress, however, rejected the proposed reorganization, though Bridenstine did not explain the reasons for his memo. Without the new leadership, "we will move forward with our current organizational structure within the Mission Directorate for Human Exploration and Operations," he wrote. He added that the agency was reviewing potential changes within HEOMD "to maximize efficiency" and adhere to the schedule for a crewed landing at 20:24.
"Since NASA is no longer pursuing the new direction of the mission, Mark has chosen to pursue other opportunities," Bridenstine said in his memo.
There had been skepticism both inside and outside the agency as to the need for a new mission direction for the exploration plan. Within NASA, it was feared that any reorganization would disrupt the lunar exploration operation and thus not slow down, instead of accelerating.
Congress had its own concerns about the creation of the new leadership of the mission, as it did last year when NASA presented proposals to dismantle the direction of the space technology mission, transferring a much of his work at HEOMD.
"The Committee reaffirms its support for the independence of the Space Technology Mission Directorate," says the report accompanying the House version of a bill on spending on trade, justice and Science approved by the House Appropriations Committee on May 22. "The Committee urges NASA to maintain management as an autonomous entity within the agency, and to remain focused on overall technology development goals that are independent of mission-specific needs.
Representative Kendra Horn (D-Okla.), Chair of the Space Committee Subcommittee of the House of Representatives' Scientific Committee, also referred to this at a hearing on the exploration plans of the House of Representatives. The NASA. "The reason I'm asking about this is this approach of using a reprogramming request rather than going through the licensing committee to propose major reorganization changes," she said. highlighting at the time the lack of details on the overall plan and its cost.
Sirangelo appeared with several other NASA officials at a NASA Advisory Board Scientific Committee meeting on May 21 to discuss the agency's exploration plans. These comments did not address the status of the management of the Moon Mars Mission. He said that he was working on "what a realistic plan for back on the moon could be, by 2024," he said, adding that the goal was "certainly discouraging".
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