https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/08/the-new-leader-of-trumps-space-council-seems-skeptical-of-spacex/This article claims that Scott Pace thinks Commercial Crew is risky, but putting crews on SLS on its second flight is OK.
“Elon Musk sat in my office in 2002 and told me he'd have 10 launches a year by 2006, I'm still looking at my watch.”
If you look at what Mr. Pace actually said a reasonably minded person would conclude that...
...he has (or had in some cases) healthy skepticism of promises coming from the commercial space sector. Lets look at this in detail.
Then Berger goes after him for repeating the anecdote in 2017 before SpaceX completed 10 launches. If you read the above paragraph Pace notes that he used the anecdote to point out the need to be somewhat skeptical about ambitious goals. Being cautious and realistic doesn't mean that he hates commercial space.
In the 2012 radio interview Pace expresses concerns over accelerating commercial crew development too quickly (by "bending or "accelerating" the rules). Note that this was before the COTS 2 flight. Regular cargo flights were still in the future at this point and the official administration line was that commercial crew would be online 3 years later.
Yet CRS turned out all right, and so far Commercial Crew seems to be progressing well.
Scott Pace isn't Mike Griffin.
Quote from: Coastal Ron on 08/11/2017 03:32 amYet CRS turned out all right, and so far Commercial Crew seems to be progressing well.COTS/CRS and CCDev aren't really comparable. As Zubrin once said, it's the difference between à la carte and a banquet.
If you look at what Mr. Pace actually said a reasonably minded person would conclude that he has (or had in some cases) healthy skepticism of promises coming from the commercial space sector.
I'm sure you weren't implying that Eric Berger is not a "reasonably minded person"...
That's fine, but where is Pace's skepticism about NASA?
Given his skepticism of commercial crew, why would he not be concerned about the risks of putting a crew even on EM-2
Then what is Orion?
Quote from: Jim on 08/11/2017 11:04 amThen what is Orion?Soylent Green.
Quote from: QuantumG on 08/11/2017 11:02 pmQuote from: Jim on 08/11/2017 11:04 amThen what is Orion?Soylent Green.People?
To be fair NASA has been launching humans into space since the 1960s. I don't think anyone should be "skeptical" about NASA's ability to launch humans.
Edited to add: Personally I don't think anyone should be "skeptical" of SpaceX's (or Boeing's) ability to launch people into space either. Skeptical of timelines and other various promises? Sure, but not their ability.
Dragon 2 will only have one test flight before crew is put on it, just like Orion. I haven't heard Mr. Pace criticize either policy so I don't think he is being unfair to the commercial side.