Public smoking of Elon Musk is over, says NASA chief

You will not see SpaceX CEO Elon Musk smokes marijuana or drinks whiskey on a podcast if he wants to help astronauts get to space.

That's the word of Jim Bridenstine, NASA Administrator, whose agency collaborates with SpaceX and Boeing to send astronauts to the International Space Station.

"I will tell you that it was not helpful and that it did not inspire trust, and leaders of these organizations should take this as an example of what to do when running an organization that will launch American astronauts, "Bridenstine told reporters. Thursday at NASA headquarters in Washington, DC.

Bridenstine went on to assert that Musk "is as committed to security as anyone, and he understands that this is not appropriate behavior, and you will never see him again," according to a report of the meeting reported by The Atlantic.

The comments made reference to the release of Musk on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast in September, where he took a blast of blunt marijuana during the livestream. The appearance of Musk in the program did not please NASA's top officials, who earlier this month commissioned a review of cultures in the workplace SpaceX and Boeing.

NASA contracts with aerospace companies – a combined total value of $ 6.8 billion – oblige the two companies "to maintain a program aimed at creating a workforce without drugs or alcohol".

Bridenstine said Thursday that he had personally commissioned the exams, a decision influenced by tragedies in NASA's history, including the fire of Apollo I that had killed three astronauts on a plane. launch pad in 1967 and the space shuttle disasters that had killed 14 people.

"Each of these accidents has had a number of complications, of course, technology has been an important element. [But] The other question that always arose was: what was NASA's culture? ", said Bridenstine to the press. What was the culture of our subcontractors, and were there people who waved a red flag that we did not listen to, and finally did that culture contribute to the failure and in those cases , to disaster? "

Representatives of Musk and SpaceX did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

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