Welcome back to closing bell on Shadow News everyone.
Well,
SpaceX Virgin galactic and Blue Origin are
now household names in today's aerospace industry.
They might not have been without the trailblazing efforts of one person
from 2009 to 2013,
she was the number two at Nasa pushing for change
by embracing possibilities offered by the privatization of space.
And joining me now is Lori Gardner, author and former Deputy Administrator at Nasa.
Lori, thank you so much For coming on the show.
I know you have a new book titled escaping gravity
request to transform NASA launched a new space age,
hitting shelves
not too long ago.
And in it you chronicle your space career in your struggles,
navigating the bureaucracy
at NASA.
What were some of the biggest problems that you saw at the agency when you became
the deputy administrator in 2009.
Well, thank you for having me. It's great to be with you.
I I don't like to be seen as one person who made um you know, this whole thing happened,
there was a team of people.
But yes, there were challenges.
And at Nasa,
I think the biggest challenge was the relentless momentum of the status quo.
You know, Nasa is a fantastic Agency and has achieved so much in its 60-year history.
But it attracted the same kind of people who wanted to do the same kind of things
and the world has changed and the government isn't
the most efficient way to do operational activities.
And so the concept that many people had. But I
became in a position to do something about first leading the
transition team for the Obama administration at NASA in 2008.
And then as deputy was to be able to offload
the operational aspects of space to the private sector who could
innovate lower costs and allow NASA to really for fulfill
its objectives as an agency on behalf of public look,
I think space is a household conversation these
days and Laurie obviously you've been very influential
in getting us to where we are today.
What were some of the key initiatives that you pushed for during your time at Nasa?
The primary program that has took so long to
come to fruition but is now really helping.
I think this country be a leader in space. It's called commercial crew.
It's launching astronauts to space by the private sector right now.
SpaceX is, they were one of two winners going being the second,
but SpaceX is already doing it.
They've been able to transport astronauts to the
space station and after the space shuttle program,
we were counting on the Russians to do that.
So you can imagine if this hadn't been successful
just two years ago with their first flight,
we would have only been able to have access to the space station that
this nation has spent more than $100 billion developing and operating.
Um we would have needed to continue to do that. The Russians.
This transition to commercial space is what I
felt was critical to lowering the cost.
And also to make our own aerospace industry more
competitive and effective and look where we are today.
And lori do you feel confident about where the U. S.
Stands today when it comes to space?
Oh we're in a leadership position and we are on a decent trajectory.
I would say I'm a pragmatist and I realize the things I
and others set out to do have not been fully completed.
And frankly without SpaceX we wouldn't be nearly as far along as we are right now.
Um we have a program that is called the
space launch system and a capsule called Orion which
is still being built um planned to be operated
by the government that cost over $40 billion.
It was supposed to fly back in 2016 its first test
flight without astronauts is supposed to be later this month.
So I don't think we have fully adopted or adapted to this new future.
But I am hopeful that the success of SpaceX and again Boeing
if they're able to launch astronauts here in a few more months
um on their own will allow us to pivot the agency to
focusing on those kinds of things to help the $8 billion,
the eight billion all most of us here on Planet Earth,
focusing less on spending so much on just buying a few astronauts.
You mentioned a few top companies, they're SpaceX technically still
a startup private company if you will and not a publicly traded stock for instance,
even though obviously it's been extremely successful
Boeing is a publicly traded stock.
Do you think the privatization of space makes it safer?
I think the privatization of space does not hurt safety, um,
escaping gravity. Name of my book is hard to beat every time fully reliably.
And we and the government have some examples of the government not being able
to manage that safely as far as both the challenger and Columbia accidents.
So the private sector was argued would overlook safety. But I look to that
comparison with the airline industry and I was
general manager at the airline pilots union for
five years and their safety record is unmatched and that is
privately operated government regulated and I think that is a model
for a safe space transportation system as well.
And part of the reason that I ask about that is because
we have seen what's unfolded over history as you mention in there,
Lorie with the Challenger and other vessels,
but also because the average joe people want to fly to the edge of space or even
on the inspiration for with SpaceX well past
the Hubble telescope without being an astronaut before making
their initial trip. Are you on board with that?
Do you think the commercial commercialization of space
is where it should be right now.
I think this is not only, um, you know, natural trajectory,
but something that has been long overdue typically.
And I even trained full disclosure and this is in the book
as well to go to space myself with a privately funded trip.
But I would have had to go through Russia,
you know that's just wrong that we in the United States weren't
ready to advance this industry and so today we are ahead.
Thanks to yes,
a couple of billionaires but these aren't taking government tax dollars.
These people traveling to space are as you said,
carrying out their own dreams and people climb mount Everest.
People do dangerous things on their own for their own reasons.
I do again recognize this is a very risky and a very public active.
So of course it makes me nervous and I am thrilled that here
in the first couple of years since we've been having fully private flights.
As you mentioned both Blue origin as well as SpaceX and Virgin galactic have
virgin galactic did have an accident earlier where one of their pilots was killed,
no tourists on that flight.
But these are dangerous things that we're doing.
People want to take risks that are meaningful for their, their own purposes.
And I think that's a very legitimate thing to do.
The fact that then leverages um to allow astronauts and the government
to pay less for their own flights is a huge benefit.
Also. Alright, Lori Garver author of escaping gravity.
My quest to transform Nasa and former deputy administrator of Nasa Lori,
thank you so much for sharing your story here with us on cheddar news.