Si è dimesso Jim Free, il vice amministratore NASA che secondo prassi avrebbe dovuto assumere il ruolo di amministratore pro-tempore quando Nelson se ne è andato.
NASA Associate Administrator Jim Free to Retire After 30 Years Service
NASA Associate Administrator Jim Free announced Wednesday his retirement, effective Saturday, Feb. 22. As associate administrator, Free has been the senior advisor to NASA Acting Administrator Janet Petro and leads NASA’s 10 center directors, as well as the mission directorate associate administrators at NASA Headquarters in Washington. He is the agency’s chief operating officer for more than 18,000 employees and oversaw an annual budget of more than $25 billion.
Reuters dà notizia che lasciano anche CFO, CIO and top procurement official at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, tre ruoli chiave, legati ad Artemis.
Key NASA officials’ departure casts more uncertainty over US moon program
[…] in Huntsville, Alabama, three key officials at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center - one of the agency’s ten field centers and the epicenter of its Artemis moon program - had their retirements announced internally on Tuesday, according to a person familiar with the announcement. Those roles at MSFC - chiefs of procurement, finance and information - were filled in an acting capacity by deputies and other NASA officials, the source said.
La prossima settimana la commissione “Science, Space, and Technology” della Camera terrà una audizione su Artemis. Articolo e riassunto generale della situazione su Space Policy.
House Committee Plans Artemis Hearing Next Week
“Step by Step: The Artemis Program and NASA’s Path to Human Exploration of the Moon, Mars, and Beyond,” is scheduled for February 26 at 10:00 am ET and will be webcast. House SS&T chairman Brian Babin (R-TX) said in a statement that he looks forward to “valuable insights” from the two witnesses: Scott Pace, Director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University, and Dan Dumbacher, Adjunct Professor at Purdue University.
Un articolo di Bloomberg sui licenziamenti, con un po’ di numeri: sono confermati i 740 “pre-pensionati”; la lista dei “probationary” conterrebbe 1300 nomi, poi ridotti a 200 dalla NASA. L’agenzia starebbe lavorando per evitare che vengano licenziati.
NASA Working to Exempt Employees From Government-Wide Layoffs
Agency officials had compiled a list of probationary employees — individuals who have been newly hired or promoted, typically within the last year.
The original list stood at 1,300, including about 300 students, according to the notes, but NASA managers have since whittled it down, removing scientists, engineers and technical workers to reach a remaining list of 200.
The notes said that management may get a “blanket waiver for NASA on probationary employees” but did not specify why.
Nell’articolo si cita anche un comunicato dell’ufficio del personale della NASA.
“The agency is in the process of validating hundreds of employees who responded to the deferred resignation offer before the deadline,” Cheryl Warner, a NASA spokesperson, said in a statement.
“Some probationary employees have taken the deferred resignation offer and those individuals have been, or will be, on administrative leave by the end of this week,” she said. “NASA is working with OPM on exemptions for those in the probationary period in mission critical functions.”
Secondo Wired alcuni ingegneri di SpaceX starebbero già lavorando all’interno della FAA.
These Are the SpaceX Engineers Already Working Inside the FAA
SpaceX engineers were said to be simply touring the Federal Aviation Administration on Monday. In fact, some were already being onboarded at the agency under a policy designed to increase “employment opportunities for people with disabilities.” […] According to a source with knowledge of the situation, none of the SpaceX engineers were fully vetted by their start date. Unlike the very young technologists associated with Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) […] the engineers identified by WIRED—Ted Malaska, Thomas Kiernan, Sam Smeal, and Brady Glantz—do appear to have experience relevant to the FAA.