{"id":12464,"date":"2020-05-20T01:07:18","date_gmt":"2020-05-19T17:07:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/nasas-chief-of-human-spaceflight-resigns-on-cusp-of-critical-crew-launch\/"},"modified":"2020-05-20T01:07:18","modified_gmt":"2020-05-19T17:07:18","slug":"nasas-chief-of-human-spaceflight-resigns-on-cusp-of-critical-crew-launch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/nasas-chief-of-human-spaceflight-resigns-on-cusp-of-critical-crew-launch\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA\u2019s chief of human spaceflight resigns on cusp of critical crew launch"},"content":{"rendered":"

EDITOR\u2019S NOTE: <\/strong>Updated at 8 p.m. with Washington Post quote.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Doug Loverro, NASA\u2019s former chief of human spaceflight, participates in a town hall meeting with NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine on Dec. 3, 2019. Credit: NASA\/Joel Kowsky<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The head of NASA\u2019s human spaceflight programs has abruptly resigned, announcing his departure from the space agency two days before before he was to chair a crucial readiness review ahead of the launch of the first crewed U.S. space mission in nearly a decade.<\/p>\n

Doug Loverro joined NASA in December after decades managing military space programs, and his tenure at NASA lasted just six months. He replaced Bill Gerstenmaier, who was removed from his post by NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine last July in a shakeup of the space agency\u2019s human spaceflight efforts.<\/p>\n

In a statement Tuesday, NASA said Loverro resigned from the agency effective Monday. NASA did not specify a reason for Loverro\u2019s departure, which happened eight days before the first launch of U.S. astronauts from the Kennedy Space Center in nearly nine years.<\/p>\n

Loverro was to chair the Flight Readiness Review Thursday for the mission of SpaceX\u2019s Crew Dragon spacecraft, which will carry astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken to the International Space Station on a test flight designated Demo-2, or DM-2.<\/p>\n

Industry sources told Spaceflight Now that Loverro resigned due to issues during the procurement of NASA\u2019s Human Landing System for the Artemis program, which aims to develop crewed moon landing vehicles to carry astronauts to the lunar surface by the end of 2024, an aggressive schedule set by the Trump administration.<\/p>\n

The Washington Post reported Tuesday that Loverro said in an interview his resignation had \u201cnothing to do\u201d with the Crew Dragon flight scheduled for next week.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt had to do with moving fast on Artemis, and I don\u2019t want to characterize it in any more detail than that,\u201d Loverro told the Washington Post.<\/p>\n

\u201cLoverro hit the ground running this year and has made significant progress in his time at NASA,\u201d Bridenstine said in a statement. \u201cHis leadership of HEO (Human Exploration and Operations) has moved us closer to accomplishing our goal of landing the first woman and the next man on the moon in 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cLoverro has dedicated more than four decades of his life in service to our country, and we thank him for his service and contributions to the agency,\u201d Bridenstine said.<\/p>\n

Steve Jurczyk, NASA\u2019s associate administrator and and most senior career civil servant, will take Loverro\u2019s place as chair of the Crew Dragon Demo-2 Flight Readiness Review, a NASA official said.<\/p>\n

Loverro was also scheduled to participate in a press conference Thursday after the conclusion of the Flight Readiness Review. Bridenstine is expected to take media questions Wednesday at the arrival of Hurley and Behnken at Kennedy to prepare for the final week before their launch on top of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.<\/p>\n

In an all-hands letter to NASA employees, Loverro wrote that he is leaving the agency \u201cbecause of his personal actions.\u201d<\/p>\n

He wrote that he \u201ctruly looked forward to living the next four-plus years with you as we returned Americans to the surface of the moon and prepared for the long journey beyond. But that is not to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThroughout my long government career of over four and a half decades I have always found it to be true that we are sometimes, as leaders, called on to take risks,\u201d Loverro wrote in the letter, dated Tuesday. \u201cOur mission is certainly not easy, nor for the faint of heart, and risk-taking is part of the job description.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe risks we take, whether technical, political, or personal, all have potential consequences if we judge them incorrectly,\u201d he wrote. \u201cI took such a risk earlier in the year because I judged it necessary to fulfill our mission.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, over the balance of time, it is clear that I made a mistake in that choice for which I alone must bear the consequences,\u201d Loverro wrote. \u201cAnd therefore, it is with a very, very heavy heart that I write to you today to let you know that I have resigned from NASA effective May 18th, 2020.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the letter, Loverro told employees that he is not leaving NASA because of any performance issues within the human spaceflight workforce.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf anything, your performance and those plans make everything we have worked for over the past six months more attainable and more certain than ever before,\u201d Loverro wrote. \u201cMy leaving is because of my personal actions, not anything we have accomplished together.<\/p>\n

Bridenstine announced Loverro last October as the new associate administrator for NASA\u2019s Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate. Loverro officially joined NASA in December, overseeing a key time in the agency\u2019s human spaceflight programs as NASA moved closer to launching astronauts on U.S. vehicles for the first time since the retirement of the space shuttle in 2011.<\/p>\n

Loverro led the human spaceflight directorate in the wake of a botched test flight of Boeing\u2019s Starliner crew capsule in December, in which the spacecraft failed to dock with the International Space Station due to a mission timing software error. The spacecraft safely landed in New Mexico two days after launch, but Boeing ground teams had to overcome another potentially catastrophic software miscue before re-entry.<\/p>\n

Loverro also managed NASA\u2019s Artemis program, in which the agency aims to land humans on the south pole of the moon by the end of 2024.<\/p>\n

Ken Bowersox, Loverro\u2019s deputy, will take over as acting chief of NASA\u2019s Human Exploration and Operations Directorate. Bowersox filled the same role last year between Gerstenmaier\u2019s reassignment and Loverro\u2019s arrival at NASA.<\/p>\n

Bowersox is a retired U.S. Navy test pilot, and a veteran of five space missions. He commanded two space shuttle flights, and led the Expedition 6 crew on the International Space Station in 2002 and 2003.<\/p>\n

\u201cNASA has the right leadership in place to continue making progress on the Artemis and Commercial Crew programs,\u201d Bridenstine wrote.<\/p>\n

Garrett Reisman, a former NASA astronaut and manager in SpaceX\u2019s Dragon program, tweeted that timing of Loverro\u2019s resignation was \u201cnot good,\u201d but expressed confidence in Bowersox, another former SpaceX manager.<\/p>\n