Work on restoring and updating the launch pad spaceship continue in Starbase (Boca Chica, Texas). According to Elon Musk, a new launch would be feasible within two months, but it is not yet clear with what combination of ship and booster, although there will still be some updates, especially in the engine area, to avoid the problems leading to the failure of have kept the complete flight plan of the first attempt. However, interesting news concerns a re-hiring of SpaceX: the arrival of Kathy Luders.
Lüders has always been a well-known face in manned missions in near-Earth orbit NASA and made it possible to concentrate the planning of the space agency in the direction of International Space Station with the integration of strategies related to private companies (just like SpaceX). Be guide was recognized on several levels and she only retired at the end of April this year (after 31 years in the agency). Now the indiscretion seems to be taking shape, even as we await the official announcement and are monitoring the work spaceship it will be his main task.
Kathy Lueders may have been hired at SpaceX for Starship
The indiscretion has arrived from CNBC by the (usually) well-informed Michael Sheetz. As written above, there is currently no confirmation from either SpaceX nor from the person concerned, but this hypothesis would be quite possible, if not probable. After all, she wouldn’t be the first former NASA executive to be hired by Elon Musk’s company. William (Bill) H. Gerstenmaier, the agency’s former Associate Administrator in the Human Exploration Division, was previously (and still is) responsible for Build and Flight Reliability for SpaceX.
according to rumours Kathy Luders will report directly to President and COO Gwynne Shotwell, forming a team tasked with guiding SpaceX through the transition from Falcon spaceship. A complex task that includes a contract with NASA for at least two manned missions to the lunar surface thanks to a modified version of Starship (and one or two unmanned ones for testing purposes).
The new executive will work directly at Starbase (where the Starship prototype construction site is located). His knowledge of NASA guidelines and human flight management will expedite the development of the manned version of the heavy transporter.
However, pending official confirmations, the announcement from the company (or from Elon Musk himself) seems only a matter of time. The work of Kathy Luders However, given the development of the version for the Artemis missions and in addition to the already announced private missions (such as DearMoon, Dennis Tito’s mission or one of the Polaris missions), it will be complex.
