CASIS Update
Keith’s note: According to LinkedIn CASIS has a new Director of Programs and Partnerships – Gary Rodrigue. Based on his LinkedIn page Rodrigue apparently has zero space experience. No surprise. CASIS hires lots of people with no space experience to run the place. Oh yes – Rodrigue worked at IBM for nearly 20 years. Christine M. Kretz, CASIS Vice President of Programs and Partnerships worked for IBM for nearly 20 years. Just a coincidence.
The person who was supposed to replace former CASIS PR guy Brian Talbot, Chief Communications Officer John Murphy, is out of his job at CASIS. So is Chief Strategic Officer Rick Leach according to sources. CASIS CEO Joe Vockley is still on full pay – but without any current CASIS responsibilities.
The new NASA HQ liaison to CASIS, Doug Comstock, met with the CASIS board and Acting CEO Ken Shields last week. In essence, the NASA review of CASIS performance is going to take a while – longer than the 12 weeks mentioned in the 13 August 2019 NASA memo and CASIS is being told to stand down (the so-called “strategic pause”) from new initiatives and focus on the payloads already in the pipeline.
This is not the best news for NASA’s plans to move out on the commercialization of LEO on ISS and then move to cis-lunar space. On the other hand, taking the time to take a close look at CASIS, then sit back, and come up with a strategic plan to fix things, is a good idea. Alas, if NASA cannot get LEO commercialization to work on an existing, fully-operational and mature platform like ISS close to home, then the chances that they can make the whole commercial thing work all the way out in cis-lunar space are questionable. And of course, if the election changes out the current Administration then all of this will get a hard reset in early 2021.
ISS is too valuable a resource to waste. Stay tuned.
Letter From NASA JSC to CASIS Board Of Directors Regarding Cooperative Agreement No. NNH11CD70A/80JSC018M0005, NASA, Earlier post
“The NASA Associate Administrator for Human Exploration & Operations is requesting a strategic pause in CASIS activities relative to changes in the CASIS PI in order to enable NASA to establish an Independent Review Team to assess the underlying Cooperative Agreement to ensure we are on mission and appropriately resourced to produce breakthroughs that improve lives on Earth. NASA anticipates that this assessment will be completed within 12 weeks after the team has been established.”
– Former CASIS Employee Indicted For Charging For Prostitutes on Travel Reports, Earlier post
– Letter from NASA to CASIS Regarding Complaints About CASIS Activities, Earlier post
– Crisis at CASIS: New Opportunities or Looming End Game?, Earlier post
This is a continuing sad state of affairs. It makes absolutely no sense that people in the highest positions responsible for coordinating ISS’s future do not have the firmest and broadest grasp on the unique history of spaceflight, across the board understanding of the sciences, and a vision and plan for future sustainability. Considering running ISS like a business just shows how little these people know about our stage in human spaceflight and what such facilities are best suited to support and accomplish. Many people can promote collaborative endeavors, but fewer can really understand the whole flow and process needed to invigorate and grow STEM initiatives or produce a sustainable fundamental-science program and facility. If there were a second generation space platform that was dedicated to in-space fabrication of some form of returnable pharmaceutical, then yes, this would be a different problem, but it is not.
The basic problem is that NASA has neither the culture nor business perspective to commercialize anything. Administrator Bridenstine’s attack on SpaceX illustrates that well since it seemed to be based on the belief the only reason SpaceX exists is to serve NASA.
NASA has a culture that focuses on basic science, it indifferent to time, is completely unaware of the time value of money and believes that anyone who works with it must be submit themselves to endless reviews.
The commercial world focuses on customers, satsfying their needs and wants, place a highmoney value on time and expects vendors, which is what NASA is trying to sell space on the ISS, will serve their needs. It’s 180 degrees opposite. That is why commercial crew is such a mess, and really isn’t commercial at all.