SpaceX hires Bill Gerstenmaier as consultant
SpaceX has hired NASA’s former manager of its human exploration program, Bill Gerstenmaier, as a consultant working with their “reliability team.”.
It appears that SpaceX wants to take advantage of Gerstenmaier’s expertise on human spaceflight as it is about to begin manned Dragon flights. It also appears that Musk wants to return a favor as well, as Gerstenmaier was likely the main person behind the decision to award SpaceX its initial Dragon cargo contract in December 2008. Musk has said repeatedly that this decision in many ways saved his company.
Overall, a wise decision by SpaceX. In his later years at NASA, Gerstenmaier lost sight of the importance of budget and schedule in his management of SLS and Orion, leading to his ouster. However, his knowledge of human spaceflight and the political mechanics needed to do it with NASA is unsurpassed. SpaceX will definitely benefit from this hire.
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Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Even today NASA and Congress refuse to recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
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SpaceX has hired NASA’s former manager of its human exploration program, Bill Gerstenmaier, as a consultant working with their “reliability team.”.
It appears that SpaceX wants to take advantage of Gerstenmaier’s expertise on human spaceflight as it is about to begin manned Dragon flights. It also appears that Musk wants to return a favor as well, as Gerstenmaier was likely the main person behind the decision to award SpaceX its initial Dragon cargo contract in December 2008. Musk has said repeatedly that this decision in many ways saved his company.
Overall, a wise decision by SpaceX. In his later years at NASA, Gerstenmaier lost sight of the importance of budget and schedule in his management of SLS and Orion, leading to his ouster. However, his knowledge of human spaceflight and the political mechanics needed to do it with NASA is unsurpassed. SpaceX will definitely benefit from this hire.
The support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Even today NASA and Congress refuse to recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation:
5. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.
It’s like hiring Einstein for your physics department–his job description doesn’t matter! :)
Into the Swamp we go
If you absolutely have to enter the jungle, it’s best to have an experienced guide.
Just make sure your guide isn’t secretly working for a slimy French archaeologist.
I can see nothing but good behind this hiring… “Hire a thief to catch a thief” us the phrase that springs to mind!
I might be socialist when it comes to social care, but regarding business, especially big project business, as long as quality standards are met, public/private partnerships are absolutely the way to go! And hiring a former “insider” seems a very astute move by SpaceX.
Indeed, given recent events, they look like they are going to hit the ball WAY out of the park!! ( Of course I’m referring to cricket rather than baseball…. It’s an English thing ;-)
Robert wrote: “In his later years at NASA, Gerstenmaier lost sight of the importance of budget and schedule in his management of SLS and Orion, leading to his ouster.”
As a consultant, this (recent?) flaw in his leadership ability will not matter, as other people will be concerned about budget and schedule. Gerstenmaier can concentrate on technical and policy matters, which are his expertise in the first place.
Gerstenmaier’s career at NASA was probably limited, but he should be able to make amazing contributions at SpaceX, since his goals and the company’s goals align nicely.
Some see good things in this, and I hope it turns out to be so. But I see the very swampy revolving door so prevalent in what our society/government has become. Again, I would love nothing more than to be wrong.
The fact that SpaceX doesn’t seem inclined to put Gerst in charge of running anything is a good sign. The fact that he’s reporting to Hans Koenigsmann, SpaceX’s V.P. of Quality, suggests SpaceX is looking to pick Gerst’s engineering brain. Given that the endgame of getting Dragon 2 ready to carry crew is nearly complete, Gerst’s knowledge of NASA’s hierarchy and folkways is unlikely to be of major importance on that project but could be of some value anent SHS. The latter is being developed without reference to NASA, but Gerst would be a good source for the team that will have to try selling SHS missions to NASA.
As for “Swamp” stuff, while this is technically a swish of the revolving door it doesn’t look as though Cerst’s new job is going to be Executive Vice President in Charge of Playing Golf with Congresscritters as is the case with so many “retired” government officials who go to work for the legacy primes.