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WASHINGTON – NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine announced that he had reassigned Bill Gerstenmaier, the agency's manned robbery officer, as there was little time left to deal with the cost and schedule issues associated with the programs. key exploration of the agency.
In an interview with journalists from SpaceNews and The Washington Post For C-SPAN's Newsmakers program on July 12, Bridenstine also asked if commercial crews could send astronauts to the International Space Station by the end of the year.
The interview comes two days after Bridenstine announced that he had reassigned Gerstenmaier, associate director for human exploration and operations, and Bill Hill, assistant deputy administrator for systems development. 39, exploration, to positions of "special advisor". The announcement has surprised more than one, especially since Gerstenmaier enjoyed much esteem in the space industry.
"We are entering a new era of manned spaceflight where the administration wants to go fast, we are interested in doing things differently, and I felt that it was important to have a new leadership at the top of human exploration. Operations and Operations Branch, "he said. "I just thought it was important to make that decision, to make that change at that time."
Bridenstine congratulated Gerstenmaier, who debuted at NASA in 1977 and who was an associate director for human exploration and operations since the creation of that direction by NASA in 2011. "This is a great American. This is a great patriot. He has served NASA for 42 years and we love him, "he said. Bridenstine added that the reassignment of Gerstenmaier was "entirely my decision".
Bridenstine said that he had decided to reassign Gerstenmaier and Hill now, on the eve of the 50th anniversary celebrations of Apollo 11, due to the scheduling constraints created by the goal of the event. Administration to introduce humans to the Moon by 2024. "We have a lot of time to lose. If we want to have new leadership, it must be done now, "he said. "We must act quickly for all our decisions."
His deputy, former astronaut Ken Bowersox, temporarily replaces Gerstenmaier. Bridenstine announced in a memorandum of July 11 that he planned to undertake a "nationwide search" to find a candidate for a permanent position, which would then hire two deputy ministers , one for exploration systems such as the Space Launch System and Orion, the other associate administrator responsible for efforts like Gateway and the Moon Landers.
"We are looking for three people to create this team," he said. "We will try to get them to look at the programs and set their own baseline schedules and costs, and then end up doing them according to those criteria."
Bridenstine suggested that it would be up to this new management team of the Mission Management to make key decisions to limit cost and schedule issues related to these programs, particularly at the SLS main stadium. Delays in the development of this milestone prompted Bridesntine to suggest in March that NASA could abbreviate or even ignore a test running in green from the main stage, where its four engines would be fired on a bench Test at the Stennis Space Center for eight hours. minutes. This proposal has been criticized by some members of Congress and the NASA Aerospace Advisory Group.
Bridenstine said that the agency had not decided to change the green run. "I want to make sure the best people are in place and let them review the program," he said. "In the end, we'll let them determine what tests should be done." He added, however, that he was expecting some form of testing to take place, "but how long we have to do is the question."
"The key is this: we want to make sure, first of all, that our astronauts are safe and that, secondly, we are committed to meeting the costs and the schedule," he said.
Pay for Artemis
The restructuring of leadership in NASA's exploration programs comes as the agency tries to convince Congress to seek billions of dollars in additional funding for the Artemis program. In an interview with CNN in June, Bridenstine estimated that it would cost $ 20 to $ 30 billion more than the agency's previous budget forecast to achieve the goal of landing landfills. men on the moon from here 2024.
"The challenge is certainly political, but it is not partisan: it is neither republican nor democratic. It's largely a parish, "he said. He cited the support of the administration in the form of a budget amendment, requesting an additional $ 1.6 billion for the agency during the fiscal year 2020 to work on lunar sites, SLS and other efforts related to Artemis.
He acknowledged the estimated costs of between $ 20 and $ 30 billion, but suggested that international and commercial partnerships could help reduce these costs. "What we are learning is that there are other people who want to contribute to this," he said. "They want to invest their own money. Why? Because they want customers who are not NASA. If they have customers who are not NASA, it reduces our costs. "
"It's very realistic that it could be well under $ 20 billion when I released that original range," he said, saying NASA would bear the cost of the program alone.
NASA has not yet secured this $ 1.6 billion down payment for Artemis in 2020. A House Appropriations Bill passed in June did not include this funding but increased spending. for other programs of the agency, such as science. Bridenstine said the action of the House was not surprising since the budget amendment was published the same week that members of the House had annotated their bill.
The lack of funding from the House, he argued, was not evidence of a lack of support for Artemis. "I've talked to people on both sides of the aisle who, in fact, provide a lot of support," he said. "The challenge is they just do not have the time."
He added that he hoped that the Senate would act on the budget amendment and that additional funds for Artemis could be retained when the House and Senate would bring their different bills into a committee. of conference. "The process is just beginning. I am convinced that this can be achieved. "
One area of concern, however, is that the 2020 exercise will likely begin with continuous resolution (CR), as has been the case in recent history. Ongoing resolutions, which fund agencies at the levels of the previous year, limit the ability to start new programs unless they are formally authorized through an "anomaly" at the RC.
"If that happens," said Bridenstine, "we need to examine how NASA can progress with some kind of anomaly."
Delays of the commercial crew
Another key issue for NASA is its commercial crew program, in which Boeing and SpaceX develop vehicles designed to transport NASA astronauts to and from the International Space Station, thus ending the ship's dependency. Russian space Soyuz. However, both companies suffered significant delays, and Bridenstine hinted in the interview that companies may not be ready to carry astronauts before the end of the year, as planned.
"I do not want to say if we are going to have this full flight this year," he said. "Honestly, I do not know at this point."
This comment was much less confident than what Bridenstine had said two days earlier, at the Future Space 2019 conference here, when he had mentioned SpaceX's undeveloped test flight of his Crew Dragon spacecraft. in March. "It's a monumental feat. This testifies to a long-standing commitment to bring American astronauts back into space from American soil, aboard American rockets. We will do it this year. "
"We are moving quickly to make these missions a reality," he said in an interview, noting that it was still possible to launch crew test flights this year. "I want to make sure that before we start with the launch date, we know for sure that these vehicles will be safe."
SpaceX suffered the loss of this spaceship Crew Dragon in April during preparations for a flight dropping test. The company and the agency have both been criticized for the lack of transparency of the ongoing investigation into this incident and Bridenstine promised that the process would work differently in the future.
"This criticism also comes largely from me too," he said, pointing out that there had been "no communication" from SpaceX immediately after the accident. "It can not happen anymore."
Bridenstine said that a new process is now in place for communications in the event of an additional accident. "In a few hours we will hold a press conference and disseminate as much information as possible to the public as soon as possible."
According to Bridenstine, updating the schedules for commercial flight test flights will be another task of the new Directorate of the Human Exploration and Operations Mission, as it deals with general cost issues. and schedule. "We are committed to the sales teams. We must try, "he said.
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