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In a diverse interview, Jim Bridenstine explains his plans for NASA, the launching failure of Soyuz, which is nerve-racking, and his views on climate change. Marina Koren 7:00 Eastern Time, Pavel Golovkin / AP / Thanh Do / The Atlantic The crew, an American astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut, was about to take the l & # 39; Only when the red light flashed and the alarms started to sound. In a few seconds, their small capsule fired and began to spin, trying to put as much distance as possible between the crew and the rocket supposed to propel them into orbit, but having worked rather badly. The 30-minute descent to Earth violently shook the crew, subjecting it to overwhelming pressure of nearly seven times the force of gravity. The capsule was finally safely parachuted to the ground and rescue crews gathered the crew and reunited them with their families. Kazakhstan, where the Russian Soyuz program is launching astronauts from around the world into space. When the capsule fell, he pondered what he would have to say if the landing ended in a tragedy. "It was very moving," said Bridenstine. "A very difficult day." Bridenstine has been a NASA administrator for almost six months and has been rich in events. Under the Trump administration, NASA has put a renewed and intense focus on sending Americans back to the moon. The agency has launched several exciting space missions, such as Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, to discover the planets surrounding the brightest stars in the sky, and the Parker solar probe, to study the mysterious properties of our planet. Sun. At the same time, NASA has struggled to carry out projects that remain on the ground. In June, officials announced that the James Webb Space Telescope, Hubble's scientific successor, scheduled to be launched in October 2018, would be postponed until March 2021 and would require an additional $ 800 million. A federal report revealed that the development was marred by technical incidents by contractor Northrop Grumman, who was responsible for the project. In October, NASA announced that its burgeoning astronaut transport program would continue to fall behind. The first test flights from SpaceX and Boeing, the companies providing the technology, were postponed to 2019.And last week, NASA's inspector general office issued a scathing report on the Space Launch System, the rocket that the agency hopes someday will transport astronauts to the moon and beyond. The blame fell on the project contractor. The Inspector General determined that Boeing was responsible for multi-billion dollar delays. In addition, NASA is currently awaiting the results of a Russia-led investigation into a mysterious hardware malfunction of the International Space Station, which its Russian counterpart at Bridenstine J spoke briefly to Bridenstine on Thursday. The heartbreaking failure of the launch of Soyuz, the state of NASA and its plans for the agency. Our conversation was slightly modified for more length and clarity. Marina Koren: You were in Kazakhstan when the Soyuz capsule had to make an emergency landing. Jim Bridenstine: I was with my counterpart, Dmitri Rogozine, managing director of the Russian space agency Roscosmos. We were at the launching pad. There is a viewing area located less than three-quarters of a mile from the launch pad. In this display area, he had access to a few small houses. So we were outside, we watched the launch. It was absolutely beautiful. Everything seemed to go as planned. The rocket finally arrived at the place where it was only a tiny dot in the sky. I entered the house and started listening to the data that was coming. He arrived in Russian and I had an interpreter with me. At one point, I heard the interpreter say that [the crew told flight controllers] "We have a feeling of weightlessness." And I thought it might be a little strange this launch start because they were still powered [to orbit]. And then I heard the interpreter say, "We feel 6.7G," [6.7 times the force of gravity bearing down on them] and that's when I realized it was a launch abortion. Rogozin got up and spoke Russian with all the engineers and technicians present, then he just left the room. We got on our bus and went back to the area where the American engineers and experts were. On the way, we communicated by SMS and phone, we were trying to find out where are the processes of abandoning the launch. Because right now, they're 200 miles downstream, so we can not really see anything, and the means of communication in place are not good because they are literally in the middle of zero share in Kazakhstan. So we lost communication for a few minutes. Finally we recovered it. The crew communicated with the rescue helicopters and said they were in good condition. The rescue helicopters went out and recovered them. They went to an isolated field, a plane picked them up and brought them back to Baikonur, Kazakhstan, where I was with Nick's family. We brought everyone together and it was a very difficult day, very moving. But everyone went home safely and we were all happy.Koren: Have you thought about those times, when that would happen, that you could potentially have to change your country from one country to another? origin, depending on the results of the landing? Bridenstine: Absolutely. It was in my mind all the time, especially when the last communication from the crew was that it was 6.7 G. And we had no communication for a few minutes. It might have taken up to five minutes, but it seemed like it was forever, it seemed like it was going on over and over again. I was thinking of Nicks' family, our own family at NASA and the US space program, and what that will mean for all of this and how we are going to communicate that. The good thing is that for a rocket that failed, everything went well after the failure. This proves the resistance of the Russian Soyuz system. If we want to strengthen the partnership with the United States and Russia on space exploration, I think that was probably one way to do it. Koren: Russian media reported this week that Roscosmos would make three un-shot Soyuz launches before reintegrating people. Do you feel comfortable flying NASA astronauts after these tests? Bridenstine: Absolutely. The last time the Soyuz system failed to launch, it was in 1983. It proved a failure of the launch pad and everyone went off in good health. There has been no human failure on board since then. It is a very resistant system, it is a very safe system. It's truly one of the most resilient and capable human launch capabilities that has ever existed. We understand very well what has happened and Russia has been very cooperative in sharing information and data as and when they are obtained. We try to evaluate why this happened and to prevent it from happening again. Koren: The day after the emergency landing, in the United States, the NASA inspector general issued a fairly critical report on the progress of the space launch system. He mentioned delays in scheduling and cost overruns that amount to billions, he criticized Boeing's performance and even asked if this program was viable in the long run. What should give taxpayers the assurance that the SLS still deserves to be built? [Unlike the Commercial Crew program,] the space launch system is not designed nor constructed for access to the International Space Station. It was not designed or built for a low Earth orbit. It is conceived as a means of transport in space. It is the largest rocket ever built, it is taller than the Statue of Liberty. If we want to have a long-term sustainable architecture on the Moon, which includes international and commercial partners, SLS and Orion are an important part of it. It is true that delays and costs are well behind schedule. The report of the IG that was released, of course, was not pleasant and does not please anyone here at NASA. But there is a lot in there that we must take to heart and learn because we must absolutely succeed in building this sustainable architecture on the moon. We want to be better, we want to learn, we want to go forward and I think we will be able to do it. The IG report is a good tool for awareness of NASA and Congress.Koren: What will change under your administration with regards to timeout and cost overruns with big projects involving external contractors, not only with SLS, but also with the James Webb Space Telescope? Bridenstine: We really need to learn how to improve these cost-plus compensation arrangements and how to put accountability in place so that, for the moment, may not be enough. [Editor’s note: These contracts are strucured so that NASA assumes the risk of cost overruns, which are likely in large, unproven engineering projects. So if contractors need more money, the space agency gives it to them. Critics of this process say it can actually minimize the fear of missing deadlines.]And you're right. It's not just the space launching system, it's not just the Orion crew capsule, it also includes the James Webb Space Telescope and other programs. The answer is that we need to be more effective as an accountability and assurance agency that we properly assign or encourage our contractors to meet on time and on budget. We also need to be a lot smarter about how we buy things. We must know as much about what we buy as the contractor about what they deliver. We can not be persuaded that they can produce sooner and cheaper than they can actually produce something.Koren: Do you think NASA has been fooled by any of these subcontractors? Bridenstine: I do not know that "deceived" is the right word, I think the right way to think about it is: what we do has never been done before, it's brand new. no production, we do development When you think about how a company builds about two thousand jet planes, it's its production.When you're thinking about building a rocket that will be used once a year at most, is development, we can not really cushion that out of 2,000 launches, because there will not be 2,000. "What I'm saying is that we have to be as smart about how we get these elements that the contractor is able to provide these elements.Koren: The United Nations recently released a disturbing new report on climate change that describes: some of the devastating effects that the planet should expect in the years You have said before that you think that rising temperatures can be attributed to human activities. But many of your Republican colleagues in Congress and the White House have rejected the news. Where are you on the report? Bridenstine: I have no reason to reject the report. NASA is one of the agencies on the planet that does more to inform the world of how the climate changes than any other agency, and we will continue to do so.Koren: Do you see some of your role as NASA administrator? Discuss with your Republican colleagues? Bridenstine: My role is to provide unbiased science and allow policy makers to lead these debates. Listen, if I start wondering what to do about the science we receive, then that will politicize what is NASA, and we do not want to do that. All we are going to do is study the planet and make sure that all this data and all this scientific data is made available to the public.Koren: Some news reports have suggested that the preliminary results of the research are being made. ISS survey, of the mysterious hole that briefly caused a leak, should be out this weekend. Can you give me an update on the progress of the investigation? Bridenstine: NASA is working with Roscosmos and Roscomos is leading the investigation. It was originally directed by Energia [the Russian manufacturer of the Soyuz spacecraft]and we saw items that were not appropriate. [Editor’s note: Articles like this one, which reported comments from Rogozin in which he suggested the hole could have been made intentionally, fueling rumors about sabotage.] Energia is no longer investigating. My agreement with Dmitry Rogozin is that we will not prejudge the outcome of the investigation until it is over, and I want to be sure that my relationship with him remains very solid. So, as long as I do not get the results, I really do not want to talk about it, because it will not be good for NASA or Roscosmos if we do things that undermine that relationship.Koren: So you have been in this job almost six months. Bridenstine: The biggest surprise was how the international community is ready to go to the moon. I had interviews with my counterparts at the head of various space agencies around the world. Whenever I go to one of these events, I will always sell them to our agenda to arrive on the moon with sustainable architecture, and they are ready to leave. They just say, tell us what you need to do and we will tell our governments and we will participate. It is truly an extraordinary testimony of American leadership and I did not think it would be so easy. Do not get me wrong, there is a lot of work, but everyone is really willing to be able to go back to the moon.Koren: After you return from these meetings on the moon, what do you say to Ed Perlmutter? [Editor’s note: Colorado Representative Ed Perlmutter, Bridenstine’s former colleague in Congress, is known for flashing Mars bumper stickers at virtually every Capitol Hill hearing on NASA matters.]Bridenstine: Well, he's not opposed to the moon, he just wants to go to Mars as soon as possible. And the moon is our best way to get to Mars as soon as possible. We want to know what you think about this article. Send a letter to the editor or write to [email protected]. Marina Koren is a writer at The Atlantic.
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