Former project manager reveals stark differences between SpaceX and NASA

Can an astronaut change his own rocket? Yes, but it depends on who did it.

Garrett Reisman is someone who has experience in two radically different space organizations. At NASA, he flew on three space shuttles on two trips to the International Space Station, one in 2008 (where Reisman arrived and returned on different shuttles) and one in 2010. In 2011, he joined SpaceX, where he helped develop Capsule Crew Dragon which flew on the Inspiration4 mission.

Talk with Reverse, Reisman explains that the two organizations are worlds apart when it comes to getting things done – where SpaceX likes to go fast and adapt on the move, NASA is much more careful in its decision-making.

“[At SpaceX] we would make a decision in one meeting that would take years to reach the same decision point at NASA, ”he said.

This cultural difference is perhaps best illustrated by Reisman’s experience trying to get a change in the space shuttle. NASA had a shuttle cockpit avionics upgrade program to polish the vehicle’s information displays – but even then the team was extremely limited.

Want to learn more about the creation of Crew Dragon, SpaceX’s surprising spacesuits, and why failure was “not an option” for the company led by Elon Musk? Read the full interview with Garrett Reisman, only in MUSK LIS +.

Reisman’s job was to develop a new way to deal with, for example, an engine failure. These procedures used a physical paper guide, so astronauts had to flip through the correct page, identify the fault, and follow the instructions.

His improved method would use a tablet connected to the vehicle’s telemetry chain. That way, instead of identifying the fault and flipping through the correct page, the tablet could locate the problem concerned and display the appropriate instructions.

“It was immediately shot,” he says. “There was no budget to do all the tests, we can’t do anything so complicated!

Reisman had another idea. NASA printed the procedure guide in black and white. Could NASA print the manual in color to improve usability? He admitted that NASA might have to buy color printers, but wouldn’t it be worth it?

“[They said] “What if people are color blind?” Says Reisman. “I’m like, ‘Well, you’re testing all of us to make sure we’re not color blind as part of the selection criteria.’ They’re like, ‘well, again, we can’t do this.’ “

Reisman was finally able to get any substance changed in the procedural system. Many instructions had steps with dashes to delimit the desired value. This could cause problems when the instruction said “set temperature – 20”, as it could read both 20 and minus 20.

“So I said, ‘instead of using a dotted cut, we are using an arrow,’” he says. “And they said, ‘Okay! This is the only thing I changed!

Reisman once told the story to Chuck Yeager, the first pilot to fly faster than the speed of sound. Yeager lamented that the astronauts were not sufficiently involved in the design and operation of the equipment.

“I told him this whole thing, and he just looked at me, and he said, ‘You’re sorry, you bastard!’ He said. “It was frustrations like this that helped precipitate the decision to go to SpaceX.”

SpaceX and NASA: Why is NASA so slow?

It’s important to note, Reisman explains, that NASA doesn’t work that way because it doesn’t want to to go fast.

This is because of two main reasons:

1. Complicated supply chains: NASA has several contracts, suppliers with subcontractors and complex supply chains. SpaceX is sourcing more components in-house, which means it can make more changes without incurring the wrath of third-party vendors.
2. Aversion to risk : SpaceX staged a series of unmanned flights before moving to the crewed scene. That meant he could test out ideas like landing a Falcon 9 booster on a drone or returning a spaceship to Earth before adding people. NASA didn’t have the same luxury – the first space shuttle launch in 1981 sent two astronauts. While NASA conducted a series of test shuttle launches before the first crewed mission, they didn’t go as far as space.

SpaceX didn’t start with these benefits, says Reisman. Instead, CEO Elon Musk started out by visiting traditional aerospace suppliers for components. Musk took a “first principles” approach and asked why vendors are charging so much for something they can do in-house for a fraction of the cost.

These cost savings ultimately developed SpaceX’s in-house approach, fostering a rapidly evolving Silicon Valley-style prototyping culture.

This new approach ultimately benefited NASA as well. The agency employed SpaceX to build the Crew Dragon to send astronauts to and from the ISS. In April 2021, he also announced that he would use SpaceX’s currently developing spacecraft as a lander for Artemis crewed lunar missions.

As the new era of space travel brings new companies with new ideas, it could ultimately benefit the entire industry.

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