NASA Jim Bridenstine Explains Twitter Spat With SpaceX nk Technology News

SpaceX is developing a capsule under NASA's commercial crew programme. 4z6cj

By Associated Press | Updated: 11 October 2019 12:59 IST

NASA Jim Bridenstine Explains Twitter Spat With SpaceX

NASA Jim Bridenstine (L) and SpaceX Chief Engineer Elon Musk 1y6c1g

ment

NASA Jim Bridenstine said Thursday that a recent Twitter statement critical of SpaceX was a signal to all the space agency's contractors about realistic development timelines.

Elon Musk after touring the company's headquarters in Hawthorne, California.

Bridenstine said NASA has programs that have been in development for years.

"What we're trying to do is get back to a day where we have realistic cost and schedules. So I was signalling — and I haven't done it just to SpaceX but to all of our contractors — that we need more realism built into the development timelines," he said.

SpaceX is developing a capsule under NASA's commercial crew program to launch astronauts to the international space station so that the US does not have to rely on Russian rockets and spacecraft.

But last month Musk Starship.

Bridenstine tweeted ahead of time that the commercial crew program is years behind schedule and NASA "expects to see the same level of enthusiasm focused on the investments of the American people. It's time to deliver."

Musk responded during his Starship reveal that SpaceX resources are overwhelmingly focused on the Dragon crew capsule and the Falcon rocket that will launch it.

During the press conference, Musk said SpaceX was within 1 percent of the commercial crew program budget.

"The NASA request for commercial crew for several years was substantially reduced by Congress, I think in some cases by 50 percent," Musk said. "It's pretty hard to stay on schedule if you've got half as much money, but we didn't spend more money, it just took longer."

Boeing is also developing a capsule called Starliner under the commercial crew program.

Comments

For the latest reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.