NASA's main body responsible for managing human spaceflight will be split into two separate directorates. This is a major restructuring that previous officials tried but failed to implement over the years. This comes as SpaceX and other private companies demonstrate more efficient ways to put people into space, while NASA continues its ambitious plans to establish settlements on the Moon's surface within the next decade.
NASA's Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate will be dismantled. This will create two new bodies. The Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate will first manage NASAs most ambitious programs, such as the Artemis program, which is still in the formative and testing stages. The Space Operations Mission Directorate will manage more routine, operational programs such as the International Space Station or the Commercial Crew Program. Officials at NASA say that categorizing programs according to their level of development will improve the agency's focus.
Two heads are better that one.
Nelson stated that President Biden's transition team strongly recommended the organizational shakeup during a press conference about the changes. The change has one major advantage: NASA's budgeting process. This is often complicated and often faces resistance from members of Congress who claim that NASA doesnt give enough information about its exploration plans. The broad human exploration program will now be split into two separate programs, so complex and sometimes ambiguous programs will not be mixed with NASA's routine programs. The two bodies will be led by separate officials, rather than one official whose workload has been increasing rapidly in recent years.
Kathy Lueders (current head of NASAs Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate), said Tuesday that two heads are better than one during a Washington, DC town hall with agency employees. Lueders will take over as Space Operations Mission Directorate from her previous post as Human Spaceflight Chief. Jim Free, who was a former deputy administrator and held high-ranking positions in NASA's Orion capsule program will be heading the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate.
However, not all in the space industry are happy about the changes. Many consider Lueders a champion of commercial space, having led the Commercial Crew Program in its early years. She won't be involved as much in the agency's largest development programs, Artemis. Critics of the reorganization will likely see it as more red tape, a burden of coordination between both offices and the need to keep in touch with related space programs.
It's as simple as falling off a log
After the town hall, Pam Melroy, NASA deputy administrator, stated that they were not adding any new people to the organization. She was responding to criticisms. There are not many additional positions... The challenges we face in coordinating across organizations are exactly the same as today.
Nelson said that both of these individuals are highly qualified. Nelson said that it was evident, common sense, and obvious that Kathy's success in space operations should continue. He also stated that his choice to choose Lueders over Free was as simple as falling off a log.
NASAs top leadership during the Trump administration recommended that NASA create a separate directorate to manage elements of its ambitious Artemis program. This would give it the resources and focus it needs to achieve its ambitious timeline to send astronauts to the Moon by 2024. Current and former officials claim that the advice was abandoned at the time due to its inability to draw resources from other directorates. This frustrated members of Congress.
NASA's senior leadership believes that the growing commercial space industry and increasing demand for human space travel, such as SpaceX's recent all-civilian mission into orbit last week, require changes in how NASA manages its largest human spaceflight programs over the past decade.
How will we manage this massive change in scope?
At the town hall, Melroy stated that the last decade has seen remarkable growth and change. Melroy stated that NASA's impact on commercial space has led to new capabilities that we didn't know were possible. Melroy said that this is the right time to stop and take a deep breath. How will we manage this massive change in scope?
NASA's Artemis program encompasses a broad range of technologies that are now under the decentralized human exploration directorate. SpaceX is currently developing the Starship system for NASA's first astronauts to reach the Moon by 2024. This will likely get delayed. International partners are currently developing a new space station called Gateway, which will orbit the Moon. Lockheed Martin is creating NASA's Orion crew capsule that will allow astronauts to reach the Moon. NASA's Space Launch System is a massive rocket that Boeing controls. It was built to launch the Orion capsule from Gateway to SpaceX's Starship, which will then pick up astronauts to land on the lunar surface. Artemis is a multibillion dollar fandango. Until today, it sat alongside other routine programs such as the ISS (a $100 billion orbital research station that has hosted rotating crews international astronauts for more than 20 years).
Melroy explained that this approach allows one mission directorate, to operate in space, and the other, to build space systems.
