NASA concerned about culture of “inappropriateness” at SpaceX, Ars Technica “In addition to spurring problems for the car company Tesla, Elon Musk’s puff of marijuana in September will also have consequences for SpaceX. On Tuesday, The Washington Post reported that NASA will conduct a “safety review” of both of its commercial crew companies, SpaceX and Boeing. The review was prompted, sources told the paper, because of recent behavior by Musk, […]

Keith’s note: I got this note from Homer Hickam today: “While reading about the kids in Thailand trapped in a cave by floodwaters and the rescuers thinking about training them to scuba dive, it first occurred to me that we teach youngsters to dive very quickly at Space Camp’s Underwater Astronaut Trainer (UAT) and might be able to help. But on second thought, we do this in ideal conditions with […]

NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel Releases 2017 Annual Report “The report, released Thursday, is based on the panel’s 2017 fact-finding and quarterly public meetings; “insight” visits and meetings; direct observations of NASA operations and decision-making processes; discussions with NASA management, employees and contractors; and the panel members’ own experience. “It is clear to the panel that NASA is at a critical juncture in human spaceflight development and that this is […]

Keith’s 6 December update: Sources report that the two individuals who spoke with a potential employer of Ben Samouha were NASA employees George Mitchell and Andy Gamble. They were reportedly bragging about how they had done this until they read NASAWatch – and then they shut up. Keith’s 4 December update: According to a friend who has spoken with Ben Samouha, he has been retaliated against. Two NASA MSFC people […]

Collateral damage from cosmic rays increases cancer risks for Mars astronauts, University of Nevada Las Vegas “Galactic cosmic ray exposure can devastate a cell’s nucleus and cause mutations that can result in cancers,” Cucinotta explained. “We learned the damaged cells send signals to the surrounding, unaffected cells and likely modify the tissues’ microenvironments. Those signals seem to inspire the healthy cells to mutate, thereby causing additional tumors or cancers.” Cucinotta […]

Keith’s note: Last night there was a panel at the Humans To Mars Summit about risk and exploration. The panel was moderated by Leonard David and consisted of NAI Director Penny Boston, former astronaut and SMD AA John Grunsfeld, former Google space lead Tiffany Montague, and NASA SMD’s Rick Davis. At one point the 2004 Risk and Exploration Symposium that John and I put together back in 2004 was mentioned. […]

NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel Releases 2016 Annual Report “At this critical time, with designs maturing, hardware being produced, and testing intensifying, it is important to maintain a focus on safety, risk reduction, and mission assurance. Challenges and difficult decisions will need to be faced with clarity, transparency, and thoroughness. Inevitably, there will be risks that must be accepted, but that should occur only after thought- ful deliberation of alternatives, […]

Keith’s note: According to sources at NASA MSFC the contractor performing software safety tests found massive errors in the SDF test cases (no hardware testing, just software). The quality check of the test cases was given a stand down order by George Mitchell. Mitchell is Andy Gamble’s deputy on SLS flight software safety. Mitchell had already told the contractor that they were not allowed to impact the testing or ask […]

Keith’s 4 November update: In a recent meeting the new NASA MSFC QD34 CSO said that SLS Launch commit criteria aren’t being tested with software. Sources report that upper management asked why. SLS Flight Software Safety Issues at MSFC (Update)

Experts concerned by SpaceX plan to fuel rockets with people aboard, Reuters “It was unanimous … Everybody there, and particularly the people who had experience over the years, said nobody is ever near the pad when they fuel a booster,” [Chair Tom] Stafford said, referring to an earlier briefing the group had about SpaceX’s proposed fueling procedure. SpaceX needs NASA approval of its launch system before it can put astronauts […]

Keith’s 31 October update: NASA MSFC Internal Memo: Key Personnel Announcement -Teresa Washington is retiring, NASA MSFC “Upon the upcoming retirement of Teresa Washington, I am pleased to announce the appointment of Marcus Lea to the Senior Executive Service (SES) position of Director, Office of Human Capital (OHC). As OHC Director, Mr. Lea will be responsible for the entire scope of the Center’s workforce strategy and planning, organization and leadership […]

Rescuers succeed in evacuating sick workers at the South Pole, Washington Post “For the third time ever, rescue workers have successfully evacuated someone from the South Pole during the brutal Antarctic winter, the National Science Foundation said. A plane carrying two sick workers from the Amundsen-Scott research station arrived on the Antarctic Coast early Wednesday afternoon, following a harrowing 10-hour flight across the continent. Both workers require medical attention not […]

NASA Has To Fight The Forgetting, NBC “[Space workers] need the consequent inescapable ache of fear and the gnawing of doubt that keeps asking, over and over, if they’ve covered all angles and done all they can. And if their stomachs do not knot up, and mouths go dry, as they confront such decisions perhaps they need new jobs. They do not need comforting myths about “valuable sacrifices” and “space-is-very-very-hard” […]

Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel Annual Report 2015 “In October 2015, NASA published what it called “a detailed outline” of its next steps in getting to the Red Planet. Unfortunately, the level of detail in the report, NASA’s Journey to Mars: Pioneering the Next Steps in Space Exploration, does not really validate whether NASA would be capable of achieving such an ambitious objective in a reasonable time period, with realistically attainable […]

NASA ISS On-Orbit Status 9 June 2015 “Today at 10:27 a.m. Central time during the routine testing of communications systems between the Soyuz TMA-15M spacecraft and the International Space Station (ISS), Soyuz thrusters activated inadvertently which led to a slight change in the orientation of the ISS. Actions were immediately taken to reorient the ISS. There was no threat to the crew or the station itself, and the issue will […]

“From: Watkins, Vincent D. (JSC-NA111) Date: Fri, May 1, 2015 at 7:53 AM Subject: Check Out New JSC S&MA Director’s Blog To: “JSC-DL-S&MA-ALL-HANDS-(LOC-&-REM)” Great blog on courage and dissenting opinions. Leave a comment and be a part of the discussion! https://safety.jsc.nasa.gov/“ Keith’s note: Oh well. Too bad no one outside of the NASA JSC firewall you can see this blog (jsc-sma-a02.ndc.nasa.gov 139.169.149.20) about “courage and dissenting opinions”.

Safety panel accuses NASA of a ‘lack of transparency’ in critical space program, Washington Post “NASA’s independent safety panel accused the agency of a “lack of transparency” about its program to hire commercial space companies to fly astronauts to the International Space Station, saying the opacity could create increased safety risks. In its annual report to Congress, the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel said the lack of communication about critical safety […]

Space is Dangerous – Be Prepared (AIAA Space 2014 Astronaut Panel) , SpaceRef “The panel fielded questions about NASA’s seemingly risk adverse culture and its possible effect on future exploration, with Crippen admitting that “NASA has become risk adverse.” Brandenstein added “that if we would have had the risk culture of the late shuttle era at its beginning, we would have never have launched STS-1.” … “On actual cooperation with […]

Loss of Signal: Aeromedical Lessons Learned from the STS-107 Columbia Space Shuttle Mishap “Loss of Signal presents the aeromedical lessons learned from the Columbia accident that will enhance crew safety and survival on human space flight missions. These lessons were presented to limited audiences at three separate Aerospace Medical Association (AsMA) conferences. As we are embarking on the development of new spacefaring vehicles through both government and commercial efforts, the […]