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The sudden withdrawal of William Gerstenmaier, head of human exploration at Nasa, is a clear sign that the White House is increasingly frustrated by the agency's efforts to send humans back to the moon's surface from here. 2024.
The administration of Donald Trump is centered on this date, which will present itself during the second term of his presidency, if he were to be re-elected.
Despite the mandate, NASA has continued to fight the delays and cost overruns that threaten the program.
And the ousting of one of the agency's oldest pillars shows just how much the White House leadership and Nasa-appointed leadership are prepared to go forward to disrupt Nasa and attempt to break the bureaucracy that many think has halted its exploration efforts for years.
In March, Mike Pence, US Vice President, fired the first warning shot by announcing a new accelerated schedule for NASA lunar landing plans.
Instead of sending humans there by 2028, he said, his new charge would be within five years. He warned the leaders of NASA that if they could not carry out their mission, they would be held responsible.
"To achieve this, NASA must evolve into a leaner, more accountable and agile organization," he said.
"If NASA is not currently able to land American astronauts on the moon in five years, we must change the organization, not the mission."
Industry representatives have stated that Mr. Pence and other members of the White House are moving in the face of the agency's lack of progress, particularly with regard to the mammoth rocket known as Space Launch System or SLS, which NASA has been developing for more than a decade but has yet to fly.
White House officials have expressed dismay at NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine at a meeting in recent weeks, according to a space industry official who is not allowed to speak. in public about internal deliberations.
In an interview on Thursday night, Mr. Bridenstine strongly denied this statement stating, "If they are frustrated by the agency's efforts, they did not report it to me because we are going to to move to the Moon in 2024. "
He added, "I just want to be clear – that was my decision. I did not get that from the White House at all. "
There were also tensions between Bridenstine and Gerstenmaier, officials said.
Mr Bridenstine has repeatedly said, for example, that he would not remove other programs within the agency to fund the Moon program, known as Artemis.
At a meeting of the advisory council, Gerstenmaier denied this by saying recently: "We will have to look for efficiencies and internal cuts in the agency, and that's where it will be difficult. ", did he declare. SpaceNews.
The National Council of Space declined to comment, but an administration official said: "This was an internal decision of NASA, and the declaration of the & # 39; s. 39; Bridenstine administrator speaks of herself. "
Mr. Bridenstine stated that he thought "very strongly" to Mr. Gerstenmaier, stated that there was no tension between them and praised his 42 years of service to the public. ;agency.
But he added that he had been planning to change for some time and was tired of the repeated schedule delays and cost overruns of the material needed to meet the White House's 2024 mandate.
"At some point, the time has come for new leadership," he said. "Cost and timing matter. And I intend to make sure we use every taxpayer dollar wisely. "
Eddie Bernice Johnson, chair of the House's Science, Space and Technology Committee, criticized the decision to brutally remove someone with Gerstenmaier's extensive institutional knowledge.
"The Trump administration's ill-defined crash program to land astronauts on the moon in 2024 was going to be quite difficult to achieve in the best conditions," she said in a statement. communicated.
"Deleting the leadership of experienced engineers from this effort and the rest of the country's manned space flight programs at such a crucial time seems at best wrong."
The White House, however, is keen to show real progress and is tired of reports of delays in some of Nasa's most critical programs.
For years, the SLS has been criticized for its perpetual delay and budget overruns.
A recent report, however, has drawn the attention of the White House with its particularly grim picture of the program, officials said.
The Government Accountability Office found that the cost of the rocket had increased by 30% and that the first launch, originally scheduled for 2017, might not take place until mid-2021.
Despite these problems, NASA continued to pay tens of millions of dollars in "award fees" to Boeing for a high score on performance appraisal, the report said.
Another report highlighted problems with the agency's plan to restore human spaceflight from US soil.
In his speech, Mr. Pence also warned Boeing and the other companies he works with that "if our current contractors can not achieve this goal, we will find one who will."
Space has been a top priority for the White House, which sees exploration as a way to revive national pride as it commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing.
It has also made space a race between the superpowers, especially with regard to China, which landed this year on a satellite, above the moon, a historic first.
Trump lobbied for the creation of a space force, a new branch of the military that would strengthen the Pentagon's efforts to defend national-orbit-in-orbit satellites, which provide warnings, intelligence and communications missiles to soldiers on the battlefield.
The White House also restored the National Council of Space and its first directive late 2017 was a return to the moon.
A year and a half later, however, the White House is not impressed by the progress the agency has made in achieving this goal.
And Gerstenmaier's ouster was seen as a way to upset the agency, according to industry officials.
Mr. Gerstenmaier first arrived at NASA in 1977 and worked on the Space Shuttle Program and the International Space Station.
Most recently, he oversaw the agency's Commercial Crew program, developing a new generation of spaceships built by SpaceX and Boeing, which would carry the first NASA astronauts into space since American soil since the withdrawal of the space shuttle in 2011. He also led Artemis program.
Over time, "Gerst," as it's called, gained the trust of many Capitol Hill lawmakers, has been NASA's persistent face for international partners and has earned a reputation for being a discreet and hardworking pillar of the agency.
His sudden withdrawal was "a shot that did not touch the bow because it touched the bow," said an industrial manager. Like many other people interviewed for this story, the official spoke under cover of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations at NASA and the White House.
"It's a sign for Mr. Bridenstine: get together or you're released," the official said. "If Gerst is not safe, no one is – or maybe just the astronauts currently on the space station."
The news of Mr. Gerstenmaier's dismissal broke out in an email sent by Mr. Bridenstine to NASA employees on Wednesday night, hours after Gerstenmaier testified at Capitol Hill at a local subcommittee.
"As you know, NASA has launched a bold challenge: to place the first woman and the next man on the Moon by 2024, with the focus on the ultimate goal of the game. send humans to Mars, "Bridenstine wrote.
"In order to meet this challenge, I decided to change the direction of the Human Exploration and Operations (HEO) mission direction."
He added that Ken Bowersox, a former astronaut who had held the position of Associate Deputy Administrator of the Human Exploration Bureau, would take over as acting.
Bill Hill, who had served at Mr. Gerstenmaier's as an associate associate director of the Human Exploration Bureau, was also reassigned. He will be the special adviser to Steve Jurczyk, NASA's Associate Administrator.
Mr. Gerstenmaier was scheduled to appear Thursday morning at a symposium in Ohio in honor of John Glenn. Mr. Bowersox appeared in his place.
He promised that NASA would reach the Moon by 2024.
Washington Post
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