Major personnel change at NASA 1 week before human spaceflight resuming from the Cape 👀

[Dennis Donovan]

Eric Berger ✔@SciGuySpace

Oh my.

Doug Loverro is apparently no longer in charge of Human Spaceflight at NASA. Two days before the Crew Dragon Flight Readiness Review.

Have not gotten official confirmation but I expect it within the hour. Had heard rumors (and just that) of friction during the Human Landing System selections. But this is out of the dark, and the timing with NASA's most important HSF mission in decade next week is dreadful.

For those who don't know, the Assistant Administrator for human exploration (Loverro, formerly) typically makes the go-no-go call for a crewed mission. He leads the Flight Readiness Review meeting where all the key personnel discuss the mission and give it a green light.

This is like the owner of the New York Yankees firing the team's manager on the day before Game 1 of the World Series.

3:42 PM - May 19, 2020

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The "Go / No-Go" guy? A week before the first manned mission from the Cape in several years?

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Loren Grush ✔@lorengrush

Supposedly we're getting a release soon that Doug Loverro is out at NASA

If so, it's a wild time for personnel change at NASA, especially within human spaceflight

Message to employees at NASA

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[Dennis Donovan]

1. more:

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[Mersky]

2. Whoa. I don't like it.

I grew up minutes from NASA in Houston. Gulp, this kind of change up is bizarre.

Btw, Eric Berger isn’t a random twitter checkmark for me. He was the science/weather writer for the Houston Chronicle for many years, and I didn’t like seeing his column come to an end.

[Dennis Donovan]

3. There's something disturbing about this to several of the science writers I've read

The abruptness of the resignation and its proximity to the first manned launch from KSC in years is unsettling.

[Eugene]

4. Possible explanation in one word: Boeing

From the Washington Post:

Boeing effort to change moon lander bid prompted probe

The incident has sparked a NASA inspector general investigation and led to Doug Loverro’s resignation

After a top NASA official improperly contacted a senior Boeing executive about a bid to win a contract potentially worth hundreds of millions of dollars, the company attempted to amend its proposal past the deadline for doing so, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

That raised alarm bells inside the space agency, where officials were concerned that Boeing was attempting to take advantage of inside information. Ultimately, the matter was referred to NASA’s inspector general office, and NASA’s leadership last month forced Doug Loverro to resign from his position as the associate administrator of NASA’s human spaceflight directorate.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/06/20/nasa-boeing-bid-probe/

The source stated 100 percent confidence that no laws were broken.