Elon Musk will not smoke cannabis on a podcast again, says Nasa boss amid concern over billionaire's behaviour
Elon Musk will not be smoking cannabis in public again, the boss of Nasa has assured the public, amid concern about the SpaceX boss's behaviour.
Nasa administrator Jim Bridenstine has said that Mr Musk has promised not to repeat a moment where he smoked a joint and drank whisky on a comedian's podcast.
That incident caused consternation across the space industry, because Mr Musk's rocket company SpaceX is expected to soon begin carrying US astronauts on its rockets. His behaviour had led to worries about whether he was responsible enough to lead an organisation that will take US astronauts to space for the first time in years.
“I will tell you that was not helpful, and that did not inspire confidence, and the leaders of these organisations need to take that as an example of what to do when you lead an organisation that’s going to launch American astronauts,” Mr Bridenstine told reporters at Nasa headquarters, according to a report in The Atlantic.
Those concerns led Mr Bridenstine to personally launch a safety review of the private companies involved in space missions. The contract to take US astronauts back into space is worth nearly $7 billion, and includes stipulations that the staff working on it remain drug and alcohol free.
As well as SpaceX, the process will look at the culture at Boeing. Together, those two companies are planning to begin the first launches with American astronauts from the US since the Space Shuttle programme finished in 2011.
The reviews are necessary to ensure that the companies are able to keep astronauts safe when they head into space, the Nasa chief said. As well as the drink and drugs concerns, Mr Musk raised worries when he talked publicly about working long hours and feeling under intense stress at his other job as the leader of electric car company Tesla.
The reviews had already been considered before Mr Musk very publicly smoked a joint as part of the Joe Rogan podcast, Mr Bridenstine said. But it highlighted an issue of concern to the space agency and Mr Musk has committed not to behave that way in the future, he said.
They were launched in part because of several failed Nasa missions that led to the deaths of the astronauts involved. Incidents such as the Apollo 1 fire and two disasters involving Space Shuttles led him to want to make sure that the culture at Nasa and the private companies it works with was set up to ensure its astronauts stayed safe, he said.
“Rather than waiting until—we don’t believe there’s going to be an incident, but if there is an incident—rather than waiting until there’s an incident, we do a cultural assessment of our contractors [now],” Bridenstine said, according to The Atlantic. “We want to get ahead of it. We want to see, right now, today, are they experiencing pressure from schedule, are they experiencing pressure from cost, and are those concerns challenging their thought process in a way that could be dangerous?”
