Nelson is in a tough spot. Acting NASA Administrator Steve Jurczyk, HEO Assoc. Admin. Kathy Lueders, and HLS head Lisa Watson-Morgan, Trump era NASA leadership hold-overs, in brazenly rushed the decision to award SpaceX the lunar lander contract just a week before Nelson was confirmed by the Senate and sworn-in, knowing full-well that NA…
Nelson is in a tough spot. Acting NASA Administrator Steve Jurczyk, HEO Assoc. Admin. Kathy Lueders, and HLS head Lisa Watson-Morgan, Trump era NASA leadership hold-overs, in brazenly rushed the decision to award SpaceX the lunar lander contract just a week before Nelson was confirmed by the Senate and sworn-in, knowing full-well that NASA’s nominated administrator might want to be a part of that decision but couldn’t just cancel the $2.9B contract once it was made.
Notice that Associate Administrator Jurczyk lasted a whole 10 days after Nelson was sworn-in. Four months later, Lueders lost half her her HEO exploration portfolio to Jim Free. As for Watson-Morgan, time will tell.
Nelson has, over his career, been someone who works in the background. A classic example, one that never made it to the press, is how Nelson handled the expected nomination of Lori Garver for NASA Administrator by Pres. Obama, which he strongly opposed. In a quickly scheduled meeting with Pres. Obama, he informed the president that he’d not vote for cloture unless the nomination was nixed and someone like Charlie Bolden, Nelson’s old Shuttle mission commander, was instead named.
We’ll have to see how things shake-out on Starship. If their lunar lander “skeleton” test vehicle doesn’t make it to the Moon by 2024 and another potential competitor does land on the Moon, things could get interesting.
Nelson is in a tough spot. Acting NASA Administrator Steve Jurczyk, HEO Assoc. Admin. Kathy Lueders, and HLS head Lisa Watson-Morgan, Trump era NASA leadership hold-overs, in brazenly rushed the decision to award SpaceX the lunar lander contract just a week before Nelson was confirmed by the Senate and sworn-in, knowing full-well that NASA’s nominated administrator might want to be a part of that decision but couldn’t just cancel the $2.9B contract once it was made.
Notice that Associate Administrator Jurczyk lasted a whole 10 days after Nelson was sworn-in. Four months later, Lueders lost half her her HEO exploration portfolio to Jim Free. As for Watson-Morgan, time will tell.
Nelson has, over his career, been someone who works in the background. A classic example, one that never made it to the press, is how Nelson handled the expected nomination of Lori Garver for NASA Administrator by Pres. Obama, which he strongly opposed. In a quickly scheduled meeting with Pres. Obama, he informed the president that he’d not vote for cloture unless the nomination was nixed and someone like Charlie Bolden, Nelson’s old Shuttle mission commander, was instead named.
We’ll have to see how things shake-out on Starship. If their lunar lander “skeleton” test vehicle doesn’t make it to the Moon by 2024 and another potential competitor does land on the Moon, things could get interesting.
Many thanks...this is excellent background that I wasn't aware of.