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Elon Musk's Extracurricular Antics Reportedly Spark a NASA Safety Probe At SpaceX (techcrunch.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the safety-first dept.

The recent interview Elon Musk conducted with Joe Rogan, where Musk took one puff from a marijuana cigarette after a lengthy conversation around AI, social media and space, is prompting a NASA safety probe at SpaceX. The Washington Post reports that NASA was not amused with Musk's antics and has "ordered a safety review of SpaceX and Boeing as a response to the colorful chief executive's shenanigans," reports TechCrunch. From the report: In an interview, NASA associate administrator for human exploration, William Gerstenmaier, told the Post that the review will begin next year and would examine the "safety culture" of both Boeing and SpaceX. Rather than focus on the safety of the actual rockets, the Post said that the review would look at the hours employees work, drug policies, leadership and management styles, and the responsiveness of both companies to safety concerns from employees. The review is going to be led by the Office of Safety and Mission Assurance within NASA, which has conducted similar probes before, according to the Post report.

According to the NASA official, the process could be "pretty invasive," with the potential for hundreds of interviews with employees at every level and across all locations where the companies operate. At stake is the potential $6.8 billion in contracts the two companies received in 2014 to revive crewed missions to space. SpaceX grabbed $2.6 billion from NASA for the program, while the remainder went to Boeing. In a statement given to the Post, SpaceX said, "We couldn't be more proud of all that we have already accomplished together with NASA, and we look forward to returning human spaceflight capabilities to the United States."

5 of 225 comments (clear)

  1. Re: What is wrong with these people? by b0s0z0ku · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Trump is high on his own Alzheimer's...

  2. Alcohol anyone? by george14215 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Why doesn't NASA open an investigation into itself to figure out who drinks alcohol...a more potent and dangerous drug.

    1. Re:Alcohol anyone? by quenda · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I always found it hilarious that no one in the movie "Hidden Figures" was shown smoking, when in reality the whole crew would have been puffing like old steam engines.

      Probably not in mission control though. The only photos I saw of smoking there were the after-mission cigars.

      And "Hidden Figures" cares little for facts. They show gender and racial segregation at NASA that did not exist. OK, there were was a little bit:
      "Katherine (then Goble) was originally unaware that the East Side bathrooms were segregated, and used the unlabeled "whites-only" bathrooms for years before anyone complained.[19] She ignored the complaint, and the issue was dropped."
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

  3. Re:Good idea by apoc.famine · · Score: 5, Interesting

    You realize he took a puff, didn't like it, and said he never gets high, don't you? That's what makes this entire thing a stupid farce. Prior to his Joe Rogan appearance, I generally assumed he was a major stoner, due to the crazy shit he comes up with. That's where we learned that he wasn't.

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  4. Re:Good idea by AmiMoJo · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The WaPo article this is based on doesn't directly link Musk's behaviour to the investigation, which is also looking a Boeing.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com...

    Seems like they are just doing their due diligence and checking out both the companies that will be putting humans in space for them.

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