At pivotal moments in human spaceflight, NASA undergoes a major reorganization

The body of NASA responsible for managing human spaceflight is divided into two distinct directorates, the agency chief said on Tuesday, embarking on a major reorganization that former officials have tried and failed to carry out for years. . The move comes as private companies like SpaceX demonstrate leaner methods of sending people into space and NASA pursues ambitious plans to build colonies on the moon’s surface over the next decade.

The break-up of NASA’s Human Exploration Wing, known as the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate, will give rise to two new bodies: First, the Human Resources Development Mission Directorate. exploration, which will handle NASA’s most ambitious development programs like the Artemis program which are still being formed and tested. phases. The second will be the Space Operations Mission Directorate, which will manage more routine operational programs such as the International Space Station and the Commercial Crew Program. Agency officials say categorizing programs based on levels of development rather than areas of expertise will help refine NASA’s focus.

The organizational reshuffle was a “strong” recommendation from President Biden’s transition team, Nelson told reporters at a news conference on the changes. One of the main benefits of the change is the NASA budgeting process, which is often fraught with complexity and often the subject of reluctance from members of Congress who complain that NASA is not providing sufficient clarity. on his exploration plans. With the vast human exploration program now split in half, the complex and sometimes ambiguous programs will not be so mixed up with the more routine NASA programs. And the two bodies will have separate leaders rather than a single civil servant whose workload has grown significantly in recent years.

(NASA / Bill Ingalls)

“Two heads are better than one,” said Kathy Lueders, the current chief executive of NASA’s exploration and human operations mission, at a town hall in Washington, DC, with the agency staff on Tuesday. Lueders, who previously led NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, will step down as chief of human spaceflight to lead the mission leadership of space operations. Jim Free, a former deputy assistant administrator who has held leadership positions in NASA’s Orion capsule program, will lead the direction of the exploration systems development mission.

But not everyone in the space industry will be happy with the change. Lueders, considered by many to be a champion of the commercial space due to her experience leading the Commercial Crew program during her formative years, will no longer be as involved in larger agency development programs as Artemis. Critics of the reorganization are also likely to see more red tape and a new coordination burden between the two offices that will need to keep in touch on related space programs.

“We’re actually not adding a whole new layer of people,” NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy told reporters after City Hall, addressing criticism of the move. “There are very few additional positions that will be needed… the challenges we have in coordinating between organizations are exactly the same as they are today. ”

“Both of these people are extremely qualified,” Nelson told reporters. “It was obvious, it was common sense, that Kathy’s success should continue in leading the space operations mission.” Using a colloquial Southern expression, he added that his decision to pick Lueders and Free for the roles “was as easy a decision as falling off a log.”

Studies by senior NASA management during the Trump administration, when Nelson’s predecessor Jim Bridenstine headed NASA, recommended a similar idea: NASA should shift the elements of its ambitious Artemis program in one direction. separate with its own direction, giving it the focus and resources it would need to execute an ambitious schedule of sending astronauts to the moon by 2024. This advice was put aside at the time, according to current and former officials, in part because it took resources away from other branches, which frustrated members of Congress.

But now, growing activity in the commercial space arena and the increasing pace of manned space travel, as SpaceX’s recent all-civilian mission to orbit last week showed, justifies changes in the way NASA has been doing it. managed its largest manned space flight programs in nearly a decade, say senior management.

“The past decade has seen tremendous change and growth,” Mayor Melroy said. “The impact NASA has had on the commercial space created new capabilities that we didn’t even know we could count on.” Citing future development plans with NASA’s long-delayed and over-budgeted space launch system, which is set to be launched for the first time later this year or early next year, Melroy added, “This is exactly the time for us to take a deep breath and say, ‘Wow, we have a chain of development programs, not just one monolithic program. How are we going to manage this huge change in scope? “

NASA’s Artemis program includes a wide range of technologies that fall under the now decentralized direction of human exploration. SpaceX is developing its Starship system to send NASA’s first astronauts to the moon’s surface by 2024 (this will likely be delayed). A new space station called Gateway that will orbit the Moon is being prepared by a team of international partners. Lockheed Martin is building NASA’s Orion crew capsule to help astronauts get to the moon. NASA’s Space Launch System, a giant rocket largely managed by Boeing, has been under construction for more than a decade to launch the Orion capsule to Gateway, where SpaceX’s spacecraft will pick up astronauts and land on the lunar surface. Artemis is a multibillion-dollar fandango, and until today it has all sat alongside other routine programs like the ISS, a $ 100 billion orbital research station that has housed crews. turns of international astronauts for more than 20 years.

“This approach allows one direction of the mission to operate in space, while the other builds space systems,” said Melroy.