Mark Sirangelo is leaving NASA
Mark Sirangelo is leaving NASA.
— NASA Watch (@NASAWatch) May 24, 2019
NASA Statement from @JimBridenstine on Mark Sirangelo's departure from @NASA pic.twitter.com/Rj25xTYgoL
— NASA Watch (@NASAWatch) May 24, 2019
Mark Sirangelo is leaving NASA.
— NASA Watch (@NASAWatch) May 24, 2019
NASA Statement from @JimBridenstine on Mark Sirangelo's departure from @NASA pic.twitter.com/Rj25xTYgoL
— NASA Watch (@NASAWatch) May 24, 2019
He was hired with the full knowledge that they didn’t have the authority to restructure. We aren’t getting the whole story yet – I heard he was escorted out.
Ha. NASA proposed the creation of a new directorate for lunar operations. Mercifully, it got shot down by Congress. Will have to do it within the Human Exploration Office. Sorry, no new Senior Executive promotions. =)
Organizations that operate existing stuff are necessarily different from organizations that develop/enable new stuff. That’s why JSC has both MOD and the Orion program office. When Orion is ready, MOD will manage and plan the actual Artemis missions, with support from many other NASA centers. The new lunar planning is supposed to be a very focused an entrepreneurial activity. HEOMD has so many different responsibilities and a very operational flavor, given ISS and the Shuttle-derived nature of SLS. The new elements of Artemis need a separate greenhouse to grow in… not the middle of the corn field. This is not a good sign.
Exactly and this person was brought in and given the same operational org to work with and asked to be bold and innovative. Whether he left on his own or asked to leave, once he couldn’t set up his own shop the writing was on the wall that things will be done the usual way with the recycled people. Organizational cultures don’t change and the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. If this Moon thing ever happens at this rate it is going to be way over budget and years beyond schedule.
And just like that, we see NASA HQ going right back to the plan they had before the Vice President’s “moon landing in 2024 by any means necessary” speech.
Of course! They are just running out the clock and hoping there is a new President that will let them go back to viewgraphs and their go slow schedule. Hopefully if President Trump is re-elected he will fire NASA and give the lunar return to the Space Force. The SpaceX Starship already looks like a space patrol ship should look like and the Moon would be a good place for putting a patrol base on ??
I wonder if heads will roll if the Green Run of the core stage gets delayed further?
A year ago they said the core stage would be integrated by May 2019, now they are saying December 2019.
I doubt it. The way the whole process works, it’s almost impossible to assign individual blame (or credit, for that matter.) It’s a large group of engineers and managers decided to do something a particular way, and had that decision reviewed by a different group of engineers and managers. You can’t fire everyone (although it might be tempting), and it’s hard to single any one person out. At the highest levels, it’s hard to tell when Mr. Trump will say, “Your fired.” But even the NASA Administrator could probably point to the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel, and say he’s legally obligated to take their advice seriously. It really is a matter of safety in numbers (and, no it isn’t just NASA, the big aerospace corporations aren’t any better.)
Certainly the program manager can be singled out.
No, not if he acted on the best advice he could get from a few dozen experts. It wasn’t designed to do it, but the current approach basically eliminates personal responsibility.
If people can’t be held accountable, it doesn’t appear to be worth it to have a space program.
The more significant news is as Muncy points out that 1) this apparently leaves STMD intact and 2) that Gateway will be in HEO now. Along with SLS, ISS, Orion, and CCP….