“Inform me that I don’t have to fret in regards to the distraction at Twitter,” he mentioned to Shotwell as they walked into the storage on the awards ceremony collectively.
“I guarantee you — you don’t have something to fret about,” Nelson, in an interview with The Washington Publish, recalled Shotwell replying.
That alternate eased Nelson’s concern about Musk and his stewardship of SpaceX — a minimum of for now. However with the completion earlier this month of its Artemis I mission — a flight of NASA’s Orion capsule across the moon with out astronauts on board — the area company will more and more be trying to SpaceX to assist it obtain its purpose of returning people to the floor of the moon.
Final yr, NASA made a giant wager on Musk’s firm, awarding it a practically $3 billion contract to make use of its next-generation Starship spacecraft to land astronauts on the lunar floor by 2025. Since then, SpaceX has gained one other contract, value $1.5 billion, for a second lunar touchdown.
The corporate has been working an intense testing program at its non-public launch and manufacturing facility in South Texas, shifting shortly to get what could be the most important and strongest rocket ever flown up and working. The corporate is already constructing a launch tower for it on the Kennedy House Middle, the place it launches its Falcon 9 rockets and Dragon spacecraft.
Whereas Musk has been at Twitter, SpaceX has saved up its quick tempo, finishing three launches in 34 hours final week, together with one which was the fifteenth flight of its reusable Falcon 9 booster, a report.
All of which has turned Nelson, as soon as a SpaceX skeptic, right into a believer.
“Keep in mind what all people mentioned? SpaceX was pie within the sky,” Nelson, a former senator from Florida, mentioned within the interview. “As we are saying within the South, the proof’s within the pudding.”
Gesturing to a mannequin rocket on show in his workplace, he added: “And look what they’ve completed with that one proper there, the Falcon 9.”
Nonetheless, Musk’s foray into social media and the best way it has consumed his time has anxious Nelson, different leaders at NASA and the area neighborhood as a complete.
When pressed about what Musk’s takeover of Twitter would possibly imply for NASA, Nelson mentioned: “I’ve a substantial amount of religion in Gwynne Shotwell. And I even have religion that Elon trusts Gwynne and has turned the reins of SpaceX over to Gwynne.”
In the case of SpaceX’s day-to-day operations, that has been true for a while. However SpaceX remains to be very a lot Musk’s firm; he’s not solely the chief government, but additionally the chief engineer. He units the imaginative and prescient and the ethos for its greater than 10,000 workers. And Starship, a totally reusable spacecraft that he desires to make use of to get folks to the moon and Mars, has been the venture that has consumed most of his time and power at SpaceX.
Involved about its progress, Musk final yr wrote an e-mail to SpaceX workers lamenting how lengthy it was taking to ramp up manufacturing of the next-generation Raptor engine that powers Starship. “The Raptor manufacturing disaster is far worse than it appeared a number of weeks in the past,” he wrote. He mentioned the corporate confronted a “real threat of chapter if we can not obtain a Starship flight fee of a minimum of as soon as each two weeks subsequent yr.”
The e-mail was largely seen as a method for Musk to inspire his group to work sooner. However Starship nonetheless hasn’t flown this yr, not to mention at such a quick cadence. The corporate is now trying to fly someday within the first a part of subsequent yr.
Nevertheless it’s nonetheless not clear when. This yr, the corporate gained preliminary approval from the Federal Aviation Administration to fly the automobile to orbit, however that approval got here with an inventory of greater than 75 actions the corporate should full which are designed to guard the atmosphere and cut back the impression of SpaceX’s actions on a close-by public seaside and wildlife protect.
The FAA mentioned final week in an announcement to The Publish that the timeframe to finish these milestones varies. “Some measures should be accomplished previous to launch, whereas others are designed to happen throughout post-launch actions or following a serious mishap,” the assertion mentioned. “The FAA will guarantee SpaceX complies with all required mitigations.”
It didn’t say when SpaceX would possibly launch. SpaceX declined to remark for this text.
Earlier within the improvement program, SpaceX despatched Starship prototypes a number of miles into the air, the place they hovered after which descended towards their touchdown pad. A number of crashed and blew up. However after a number of makes an attempt, the groups figured it out and landed the spacecraft safely. Since then, the corporate has been centered on constructing the launch tower, full with a pair of arms that may catch the booster because it descends, and getting the entire automobile prepared for an orbital launch try. In latest months, it has carried out engine assessments, together with one final week.
Pam Melroy, NASA’s deputy administrator, mentioned at a latest occasion that the corporate is making progress. However she didn’t supply a timeline for when the orbital launch try would possibly come.
“They’ve obtained the design able to go. Do some severe {hardware} testing and so they’re past the we’re-going-to-probably-blow-up-the-pad part,” she mentioned.
As a former appearing deputy affiliate administrator on the FAA, she mentioned she is aware of “how exhausting it’s to develop a brand new location to launch rockets from. … It’s very difficult to arrange a brand new location, and I feel they’re simply experiencing a few of these issues.”
Within the interview, Nelson mentioned he’s always asking for updates on the corporate’s progress. “And I’m constantly instructed they’re on schedule, they’re assembly each milestone, and in some circumstances, they’re exceeding their milestones,” he mentioned. “And, you already know, have a look at SpaceX’s historical past. They launch and generally they blow up. However in the long run, they maintain it going.”
NASA will want them to. After it efficiently flew the Artemis I mission, it’s wanting towards Artemis II, which might ship a crew of astronauts within the Orion spacecraft to orbit across the moon, maybe by 2024. Then for the lunar touchdown try, Starship would meet up with Orion in lunar orbit, ferry the astronauts to the floor and again to Orion once more, which might take them dwelling.
That’s scheduled for 2025 — an bold, maybe quixotic timeline, contemplating Starship has but to fly to Earth orbit, not to mention to the moon. The mission can be sophisticated by the truth that SpaceX must refuel Starship in Earth orbit with a number of tankers earlier than it might fly to the moon.
Nelson conceded that there’s a good probability the mission might slip to 2026, particularly for the reason that area company has to get its new spacesuits prepared and pull off a profitable Artemis II mission as nicely.
“There’s so much using on it,” he mentioned. “SpaceX needs to be prepared.”