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Elon Musk's Extracurricular Antics Reportedly Spark a NASA Safety Probe At SpaceX (techcrunch.com)
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."
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."
My last company was supporting boards for the aerospace industry. They have all sorts of odd triggers when it comes to anything to do with "drugs."
For some reason we didn't have to drug test our line workers that produced the product, but we did have to certify that the people who repaired the product with audited drug tests. Well it turns out to be one guy in our whole company who had to pee in a cup. I offered to do it with him even though I had nothing to do with manufacturing because I thought that was unfair. But it never went anywhere.
Elon can be hip as he wants, but if he wants those sweet sweet government contracts he has to behave. If something goes BOOM down the line when it wasn't supposed to there is nobody at NASA who wants to report to the subsequent investigation that they weren't keeping tabs on vendors.
NASA is spending American tax dollars to investigate a company's employees' off hours activities - based on the CEO participating in a legal activity; at least in California.
What a waste. No wonder NASA can't get a man to the moon anymore.
This is payback for him not letting the vulture investors continually short the company.
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Incidentally, don't you think ten mentions of Microsoft on the front page is a little much, even for the Microsoft slashdot.
In 20 years taking a toke will be like opening a beer. Musk has gotten to where he is because he not only takes risks, he spends a lot of time and effort reducing them.
So, you gonna compare Elon with the risk takers who said "don't launch" in 1986, or the risk takers who said "launch".
Typical of the US at large.. partaking in pleasurable activities leads to blacklisting. I don't like Musk for his Tesla spare parts policies and other reasons, but this is just abusive and stupid.
Boeing knows that hair testing their crew would be very ungood for them.
This is the feds smacking ol' Musky on the nose with a newspaper for stepping out of line. The last of the drug warriors haven't died off, but are butthurt as fuck.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
SpaceX has done what NASA and Boeing have been unable to do. The "fuck it" culture works, apparently.
Any major contractor for Orion receives a random drug test. If you fail you can no longer work on the program until you go through a rehab period. The testing includes alcohol, pot, opiodes, etc. This is actually a pretty big concern now for the likes of Lockheed as they are outside of Denver. While a Drs prescription will get you out of it for your painkillers they don't give a rats ass for any medical marijuana card. I actually have to be very careful if for example I'm paired up on a ski lift with someone who decides to toke it up.
Hopefully, most will be in nursing homes in the next decade or so, though...
That's a good idea, because Musk has a joystick that he uses to remotely pilot each launched rocket, and must always have his wits about him to insure that the rockets don't crash and burn. Sorry, but this is just a bit ridiculous on NASA's part.
Better known as 318230.
Absolutely ridiculous. Even this language is so outdated as to be absurd "a marijuana cigarette."
So NASA no longer cares about the quality of the actual output of SpaceX, now they are all about policing the off-hours behavior of a contractors employees?
Literally every old timer in management and administration who embraces this sort of philosophy needs to be given the boot. Call it early retirement. If they are this backwards and antiquated on topics like this it's no wonder they are so slow and antiquated on their methodologies in other areas.
Anyone notice how SpaceX rockets look like giant joints, smoking their way off into the cosmos? Coincidence?!
Corruption is convincing someone that the selfless ideal is the same as their selfish ideal.
Why doesn't NASA open an investigation into itself to figure out who drinks alcohol...a more potent and dangerous drug.
What are you on?
How is that even a part of the criteria? If everyone is wondering around stoned all day and still achieving their objectives safely (not that I suspect that to be the case) it should be a point in favor of open drug policies, not a point against the safety measured through an objective lens.
this does seem a bit extreme. Probably more of a "where there's smoke, there's fire" precaution - maybe they think that everyone is smoking up and that's OK, but it seems like an extreme overreaction. Also seems like poor due diligence - if Elon hadn't lit up a joint, then they would just assume that everything is OK, even if the production line is stoned 24x7? To me, if SpaceX/Beoing/etc... are going to be responsible for restoring space flight to the U.S., this should have happened upfront, regardless of what happens in the public eye or not.
Say "fuck it", scrap everything in spacex. Show the government what a loss to humanity a mind like yours would be.
[($)]
Do they think Musk is turning wrenches? Installing fasteners on his launchers? What the f*ck is wrong at NASA?
SpaceX is so far ahead with recycling rockets (= lower launch cost & better margins) that the incumbent rocket contractors appear to have pulled some strings to attempt to slow them down or discount them from the running. Someone needs breathing space to catch up.
In a better world you'd spend 100% of your time focusing on innovating and improving technology instead of wasting time fighting the status quo.
Elon: "Relaaax, it's not like we're doing rocket science here."
Table-ized A.I.
Because Musk is personally building and piloting those things. Right. Makes sense.
This american fascination with colourful CEOs has gone too far. What more does it take for you guys to understand that it's all a circus? Who cares? Sure CEOs matter, but not half as much as a good engineering team.
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
The people paying the bills get to set the rules.
Considering the state of lobbying in the US, never has a truer sentence been said.
My ism, it's full of beliefs.
"Safety Probe!" I shouted as I rammed the rocket shaped dildo deeper and deeper
At NASA it's actually called a Auditing Nasa's Alimentary Limitation Probe and from what I heard it can be quite intrusive.
My ism, it's full of beliefs.
I bet you also stupidly and wrongly believe pot is completely harmless and has no negative effects on human health and well being.
Do share your evidence for this statement.
My ism, it's full of beliefs.
He didn't even Inhale. He puffed it like a cigar. He obviously doesnt smoke weed.
I have no doubt that the DoD will be joining , or worse, doing their own. Many accusations against SX/musk have been claimed, and I would guess that nearly all were lies and dropped. BUT SX does not have the safety level of Boeing or NASA. This review will show that. The question will become, will NASA or more likely the DoD force SX to obtain that level.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
The state of California is within the United States of America.
Using pot in the United States of America is a [federal] crime! DUH!
The fact that a state, like California or Colorado, says that THE STATE will not prosecute you for the STATE crime of smoking a joint, means NOTHING - you are still comitting a federal crime.
Geeze, people sure have become stupid about basic civics that used to be taught to 4th or 5th graders.
Elon Musk has competitors at Boeing(Delta rockets), LockheedMartin(Atlas and Vulcan rockets), and NorthropGrumman(Antares and Pegasus rockets) who stand to lose BILLIONS of dollars in competition with SpaceX. It was a no-brainer that people associated with these interests would stir-up a hornet's nest if Musk did anything to give them the ammunition.... and Musk certainly did it. Elon Musk demonstrated astonishingly appallingly monumentally horrendous judgement by committing a federal crime ON VIDEO. Worse yet, the crime involved a mind-altering substance and Elon is in the aerospace industry where this sort of thing is considered a MAJOR safety risk. Companies building rockets are supposed to be drug-free workplaces with zero tolerance for any sloppyness because the field of endeavor they are in is extremely unforgiving. NASA is putting a fig leaf on this and making it appear fair and unbiased by also investigating Boeing (whose CEO will be found to have NOT smoked a doobie on video).
Whether NASA likes Musk or not and whether his rockets work or not, this coult lead to serious problems getting funding and contracts for SpaceX rockets.
Dumb. I certainly expected better of Musk. This was a really stupid f-up and a self-inflicted wound. Musk's best defense would be to claim that, as an immigrant, he did not fully register the idea that even though his host in California assured him it was legal, it was still in fact a criminal act.
There is NO PLACE in the United States of America where pot use is legal. There are only a handful of states where the state no longer makes it a STATE crime.
Maybe they can pick up some tips on how to be 10,000 times less wasteful of their resources?
Requiem for the American Dream
He's dumb? You're the one planning to eat 'food' from a gas station!?!?!?!
Requiem for the American Dream
Is NASA looking into that? Perhaps they should have looked into more of Joe's podcasts and found the one with Mathew Walker. 6 hours sleep equals legally drunk. Elon was complaining a bit about restlessness and lack of sleep. Those would be much bigger safety issues. Alas, weed helps you go to sleep but seems to disrupt dreaming so it's not great to substitute one problem for another....
But hey, no one looks into sleep. In fact it is badge of honor to sleep less and "work more"....big time macho ignoramuses and iron ladies (Raegan and Thatcher)...as Walker said they both got Alzheimer's. Cheers!
And what about alcohol? You gonna tell me that the old time astronauts weren't drinking? How did Andrew Weir put it in "the Martian"? "What would old time astronaut do? Take few shots of whiskey, bang his mistress and solve the problem."
There is no way in hell that all the brouhaha about Elon's puff is not deliberate and therefore sleazily hypocritical. He really must be one of the greatest and most useful for humanity people on Earth if so many want to see him down. That's the times we live in - the more someone is attacked and smeared the greater people they are [e.g. Jordan Peterson].
BTW, I though this was a property of the communist ideology (cause any disparity in outcome MUST be oppression and privilege) - when I was growing up I quickly learned not to display talent and excellence....but really, communism in America! Oh, wait! Oh, shit!
NASA safety department doesnt give a shit if something else legal could be worse.
No, but the senior NASA adminstrators know that SpaceX is making a monkey out of them, even to the point that NASA is forced to contract out flights to SpaceX. You don't think that sticks in these old-school political bureaucrats' craws? And all that sweet government money paid out to Musk instead of NASA and the old-guard aerospace contractors they've had a revolving-door, incestuous relationship with for decades isn't a factor?
This is Musk's aerospace competition using the influence they have with NASA to attack Musk/SpaceX just like the auto industry uses their leverage within the government to attack Musk/Tesla.
Follow the money. Who benefits? That's where the answers almost invariably always are in these sort of affairs.
Three years later he got a stack of about four ring binders from the committee that followed up on his casual note. Skipping to the punch line, they concluded, "they can not mark them because updating the assembly and verification documentation would be too expensive".
Is there any wonder, SpaceX runs circles around NASA when it comes to efficiency?
Remember every dollar "wasted" by the government is a dollar earned by someone who did not deserve it. We know NASA wastes tons and tons of money. The defense contractors are getting it. That cash flow is getting threatened. They will retaliate like this.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
Slick way to disqualify a contractor without looking like you're playing favorites.
deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
NASA, you're hypocrites! You've killed 14 astronauts! How many has Musk killed?
Circle the wagons and fire inward. Entropy increases without bounds.
This 'controversy' has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that it is likely that NASA will likely cancel the Space Launch System if BFR or Blue Origin 'New Glen' are able to launch. Nothing at all. Nothing to see here. Move along.
This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs; when first he appears as a protector - Plato (423 to 327 BC)
Government investigation into alcohol use by bosses at NASA and in the U.S. Congress in T minus 10 trillion...
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
What really sucks is that we can't even do the research to find out if that's true or not.
horror vacui
Dave, my old roommate, did all the research we need.
It turns you into a paranoid, lazy, low functioning fucking moron.
More than likely Dave had some emotional issues.
My ism, it's full of beliefs.
What really sucks is that we can't even do the research to find out if that's true or not.
Yeah, schedule 1 is a double bind for that.
My ism, it's full of beliefs.