Bill Gerstenmaier
Bill Gerstenmaier
William H. Gerstenmaieris the current Associate Administrator for Human Exploration and Operations for NASA, holding this position since 2005. He has been described as "arguably the most influential person when it comes to US spaceflight." Prior to being Associate Administrator, Gerstenmaier served as the International Space Station Office Program Manager, at Johnson Space Center, a position he began in June 2002...
foolish launch particular speculate variables
At this point, ... it's so uncertain, there are so many variables out there, I think it's foolish for us to try to speculate on a particular launch date.
launch period pressure puts schedule speculate whether wrong
I think it's wrong to take the (May) launch period and speculate whether we will make it or not. That puts schedule pressure on the teams.
cause efforts failure focus likely mechanism pick potential problem problems root smoking underlying wrong
I think it's really wrong to try to pick out one potential root cause and say that's the underlying problem or that's the smoking gun. Foam is very complicated. The failure mechanism is likely some combination of things and it's really wrong to try to pick out one and then try to focus all your efforts on that. That will actually set you 8up for more problems in the future.
areas came data identified last loss major mechanism starting week
Last week we identified the major areas where foam came off the tank. We are starting to make some sense of the data ... what the mechanism for the foam loss was.
conditions good hope plan
I think conditions won't be good on the station, but they'll be better than the alternative. We kind of always plan for the worst, but hope for the best.
designed maximum six system three today
Our system today is designed for a maximum of three to six crew, and for six just temporarily.
aiming clearly launch
We haven't set a launch date, but we are clearly aiming for May.
exactly hardware intended lots operate surprises
There are lots of firsts with this mission, and sometimes when you do firsts, the hardware surprises you and doesn't operate exactly the way you intended it to operate. So I think there will be some surprises.
decided engineers fly gives multiple safety trying
We've decided not to fly with the ramps, but we have to put some kind of (protective covering) in that area. There are multiple solutions. Engineers are just trying to decide which one of those is the right one to do that gives us the right safety margins.
decided fly
We've decided not to fly with the (ramps), but we have to put some kind of (protective covering) in that area.
root specific
We didn't find anything that showed the specific root cause, we just need to keep looking.
easy
We didn't find any immediate, easy fixes here.
choice determine fly july months next order saying smart targeting work
We've been saying for months that our engineering work would determine when we fly our next mission,. Targeting July is the right choice in order to make smart decisions.
flight spring
We don't need to have a flight this spring to make the 19 flights.