Elon Musk's out-of-school antics triggered NASA's security investigation at SpaceX – TechCrunch



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Elon Musk's interfering in the doobage during a September radio interview might have triggered far more than the hugs of adulation of his acolytes (and a pretty interesting conversation about artificial intelligence, social media, invention and space).

The Washington Post reports that employees at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration were not amused by Musk's jokes and ordered a SpaceX and Boeing safety review in response to the Director General's colorful schemes.

In an interview, NASA William Gerstenmaier, associate director of human exploration, told the Post that the review would begin next year and that he would review Boeing's "safety culture" and the SpaceX. .

Instead of focusing on rocket safety, the Post stated that the review would focus on employee working hours, drug policies, management and management styles, and the responsiveness of both companies. addressing employee safety concerns.

The review will be led by NASA's Office of Security and Insurance Mission, which has already conducted similar investigations, according to the Post report.

According to the NASA official, the process could be "quite invasive", with the potential for interviews with employees at all levels and in all locations where companies operate.

The stake is the $ 6.8 billion worth of contracts that both companies received in 2014 to relaunch crewed missions in space. SpaceX has recovered $ 2.6 billion from NASA for the program, the rest having gone to Boeing.

The two companies stumbled by testing their crewed systems to put NASA astronauts into orbit. Boeing still has to test the thermal shields and parachute systems of its spacecraft and face the risk of propellant leakage during the emergency shutdown process.

SpaceX also has problems with its parachute system.

In a statement to the Post, SpaceX said: "We could not be more proud of everything we have already done with NASA, and we look forward to returning manned flight capabilities to the United States."

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