Upheaval on Twitter beneath its new proprietor, SpaceX founder Elon Musk, will not be distracting SpaceX from delivering on NASA’s wants, the company administrator mentioned.
NASA Administrator Invoice Nelson mentioned that the tumultuous Twitter takeover has not affected SpaceX’s work so far. He additionally obtained private assurances about billionaire Elon Musk from one among SpaceX’s senior officers, according to NBC News (opens in new tab). Nelson spoke with Gwynne Shotwell, a long-time worker of SpaceX who can be the corporate’s president and chief working officer, on Dec. 5, the report famous. The 2 have been attending the Kennedy Heart Honors, an American tradition celebration, in Washington, D.C.
When he requested whether or not Twitter was a distraction, Shotwell instructed Nelson, “I guarantee you, it isn’t,” Nelson mentioned within the NBC report printed Sunday (Dec. 11).
“As you already know, she has been designated because the individual to steer SpaceX,” Nelson mentioned. “So I take it straight from what we within the south say: the horse’s mouth. And she or he’s the horse that is operating SpaceX.”
In photographs: See the evolution of SpaceX rockets
SpaceX obtained its first contract from NASA in 2014 and is accountable for sending astronauts to the International Space Station, together with a big share of its cargo, on variants of the Dragon spacecraft. Beginning in 2025 or 2026, SpaceX has additionally been tasked with touchdown NASA astronauts on the moon on Artemis 3 and Artemis 4 utilizing Starship, a brand new spaceship that has but to attain orbit regardless of lately targeting a Dec. 1 flight.
Even earlier than Musk took over Twitter on Oct. 28, his habits has brought on consternation for some. On Twitter earlier than the takeover, numerous media studies indicated, he used crude jokes (opens in new tab) and insults (opens in new tab) and even known as a rescuer of Thai kids a pedophile (opens in new tab). Musk, who was Time Journal’s 2021 person of the year, was in current months accused of sexual misconduct with a flight attendant in 2016; his habits of “distraction and embarrassment” was additionally the topic of an open letter by quite a few anonymous employees of SpaceX.
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Musk’s new possession has modified the panorama of Twitter’s tradition significantly, quite a few media studies have mentioned. He eliminated its board and most of its senior govt crew, all of the sudden laid off more than half (opens in new tab) of the corporate’s then-7,500 staff, insisted that those that stay decide to “hardcore” work (opens in new tab) with “lengthy hours at excessive depth,” compelled the beforehand distant workforce back into the office (opens in new tab) with a couple of days’ discover, and reportedly put in sleeping quarters on site (opens in new tab), amongst quite a few different modifications.
Musk additionally reinstituted quite a few controversial Twitter accounts, together with the Twitter account of President Donald Trump (opens in new tab). Trump had been banned from the platform after enjoying a vital position within the Jan. 6, 2021, riots on Capitol Hill; Trump had falsely declared the federal election outcomes have been counterfeit and requested the U.S. folks to take motion on that.
Advertisers have been fleeing the platform (opens in new tab) within the meantime, lessening Twitter’s revenues significantly. Musk’s first try to institute “verified” $8 subscription accounts (opens in new tab) final month created a slew of parody accounts spreading disinformation in mere hours, till the enterprise was shut down.Â
Lengthy-time NASA contractor Lockheed Martin was among the many corporations that may have lost billions (opens in new tab) within the inventory market after a “verified” faux Lockheed account tweeted (opens in new tab) that the aerospace large would cease its navy gross sales to america, Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Elizabeth Howell is the co-author of “Why Am I Taller (opens in new tab)?” (ECW Press, 2022; with Canadian astronaut Dave Williams), a e-book about space medication. Comply with her on Twitter @howellspace (opens in new tab). Comply with us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab) or Facebook (opens in new tab).
