Thread by @thesheetztweetz

NASA’s first SpaceX Demo-2 panel, a program overview with:

- Administrator Jim Bridenstine
- Commercial Crew manager Kathy Lueders
- ISS manager Kirk Shireman
- SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell

Thread:

Bridenstine: "This is a new generation, a new era in spaceflight ... SpaceX has been an amazing partner of NASA now for many years."

Lueders: "This is a humbling job. I think we're up to it and I look forward to showing you our progress."

Shireman: "This really is the next major step in commercializing low Earth orbit and having a really viable low Earth orbit economy."

Shotwell: "We've worked closely with NASA since 2006 and all that work is culminating to this historic event that we have upcoming here in just a few weeks."

Shotwell: "My heart is sitting right here, and I think it's going to stay there until we get Bob and Doug safely back from the International Space Station."

Shotwell: There is still work to do in the "few weeks ahead of us." Later today SpaceX should conduct "our final parachute test," the 27th test of the Mark 3 parachute design.

.@SciGuySpace asks how NASA & SpaceX's relationship has benefited each other:

Shotwell: "NASA has been an extraordinary customer and extraordinary partner, a mentor for us."

Lueders: "We together have become stronger in engineering technical support for this nation."

.@DaveMosher: In 2002, did you think SpaceX would work "with NASA to resurrect crew spaceflight?"

Shotwell: "I certainly thought we would work with NASA ... I've seen this company grow from roughly 10 employees to thousands that we have now."

Shotwell: "The media certainly makes a lot of out of failures, but candidly that's the best way to learn, is to push your systems to their limit, which includes your people systems and your processes and learn where you're weak and make things better."

Marcia Dunn, AP: "How are you reinforcing the message for the need for safety at all costs?"

Shotwell: "As far as my team goes, they don't need to be reminded about the criticality of the work that every person is doing for this mission. The technicians know."

I asked what NASA thinks of the program's cost effectiveness

Bridenstine: "Commercial Crew is going to demonstrate cost savings if you compare it to the Space Shuttle ... We're very pleased with the level of investment that we've made and what we're getting for that investment."

Bridenstine: "We need to have the capability of accessing space, not just for NASA, but for all of humanity."

Bridenstine: "The investments that we have made into SpaceX and the investment SpaceX has made in itself have really resulted in I think something that is going to be very beneficial, not just for human space exploration, but beneficial for the economy."

.@cbs_spacenews: Where does NASA stand in buying a seat on October's Soyuz launch?

Bridenstine: "We're getting very close to finalizing that deal ... I think it's within days of being signed."

.@StephenClark1: How much has SpaceX invested its own funds in developing Crew Dragon?

Shotwell: "SpaceX invests heavily in our products but candidly I can't tell you what the investment has been in Dragon 2. Not because I don't want to. I don't know what the number is."

Any plans for modifications/improvements to Crew Dragon?

Shotwell: "Any changes to the dragon vehicle will be a joint discussion between SpaceX and NASA. We've taken a long time to get to where we are. On the other hand, we are an organization that learns and learns rapidly."

How can people participate in Demo-2 if they have to watch from home?

Bridenstine: "We need Demo-2 to be successful and and the best way we can do that is to do it while keeping everybody safe and and having large crowds ... now is not the time for that."

.@joroulette: What's on the table for Soyuz negotiations?

Bridenstine: "It's really about price, there's not there's not much to trade at this point ... then, once we have our own launch capability, we can negotiate for non-exchange of funds."

@joroulette @joroulette: Has NASA considered extending Crew Dragon's orbital lifetime beyond 110 days?

Lueders: "There'a potential if we need to we could even look at potentially extending the life" of certain Crew Dragon components "depending on how the hardware work on orbit."

@jeff_foust: What's left to do before the launch?

Lueders: "We have reviewed the anomaly resolution of the Starlink launch and actually have cleared the engines on our [Falcon 9] vehicle for that failure, so that actually is behind us now."

@jeff_foust Lueders:

Yesterday was operational readiness review. Flight readiness reviews coming up:

SpaceX on May 8
NASA on May 11
Full review on May 20

@jackiewattles: What measures has SpaceX taken given COVID-19?

Shotwell: "We are ensuring that only essential personnel" are going near both Demo-2 and Crew-1 astronauts during training.

@jackiewattles Shotwell: SpaceX employees "are wearing masks and gloves, we're cleaning the training facility twice daily ... We are social distancing as well. We've got at least half our engineering staff working from home."

@Free_Space: How will the HLS $135m impact Starship development and timing?

Shotwell: "We're working closely with NASA to understand what the ultimate requirements are for human spaceflight on a vehicle like Starship, and then we will work to to roll those things in."