{"id":17712,"date":"2020-05-19T23:12:36","date_gmt":"2020-05-19T15:12:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/days-before-landmark-launch-nasas-head-of-human-spaceflight-quits-due-to-mistake\/"},"modified":"2020-05-19T23:12:36","modified_gmt":"2020-05-19T15:12:36","slug":"days-before-landmark-launch-nasas-head-of-human-spaceflight-quits-due-to-mistake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/days-before-landmark-launch-nasas-head-of-human-spaceflight-quits-due-to-mistake\/","title":{"rendered":"Days before landmark launch, NASA\u2019s head of human spaceflight quits due to \u2018mistake\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Doug
Doug Loverro speaks at NASA\u2019s Michoud Assembly Facility in Louisiana shortly after taking his place as the space agency\u2019s associate administrator for human exploration and operations in 2019. (NASA Photo via Twitter)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

NASA\u2019s top executive concentrating on human spaceflight, Doug Loverro, has resigned just a week before the scheduled start of a milestone space mission.<\/p>\n

Loverro became NASA\u2019s associate administrator for human exploration and operations last December, and was playing a leading role in NASA\u2019s Artemis moon program as well as preparations for next week\u2019s launch of a SpaceX Crew Dragon mission to the International Space Station.<\/p>\n

That mission, set for liftoff on May 27 from NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, is due to send NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken to the station for a stay that could last as long as four months. It\u2019ll be the first launch of an orbital crewed mission from U.S. soil since the retirement of NASA\u2019s space shuttles in 2011.<\/p>\n

For nearly nine years, NASA has had to rely on the Russians to get American astronauts to the space station. If all goes according to plan, the SpaceX launch will end that era next week.<\/p>\n

Loverro had been scheduled to preside over a launch readiness review on Thursday, but The Washington Post reported that NASA associate administrator Steve Jurczyk will take Loverro\u2019s place. In a statement, NASA said former astronaut Ken Bowersox, who served as acting chief of human spaceflight before Loverro took over last year, will return to that role on an acting basis.<\/p>\n

In an email that Loverro sent to NASA employees, he said he was leaving the agency due to a mistake he made during his tenure, but did not elaborate on the nature of the mistake.<\/p>\n

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

Loverro told The Washington Post that his departure had nothing to do with the commercial crew program, which involves SpaceX as well as Boeing. He said \u201cit was absolutely safe to proceed\u201d with the SpaceX launch.<\/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 Post.<\/p>\n

One of the most important decisions that NASA made during Loverro\u2019s tenure was to select commercial teams to move forward with the development of landing systems capable of putting astronauts on the moon by as early as 2024. Loverro had been fixed on the 2024 date, to the extent that he wore a custom-made lapel pin that displayed the number of days remaining until the end of 2024.<\/p>\n