SpaceX’s Musk and NASA Chief Reconcile After Public Skirmish
- Efforts by company to fly U.S. astronauts have been delayed
- ‘It’s time to deliver,’ the head of the agency said last month
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SpaceX’s Elon Musk and NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine staged a public show of support for one another at the rocket company’s headquarters Thursday, weeks after the two traded barbs over the closely held company’s delayed efforts to fly astronauts for the first time.
Bridenstine praised Musk and SpaceX for its approach to speedily testing, flying and fixing rockets, and emphasized how close the company and agency are to launching U.S. astronauts on American rockets for the first time since 2011. SpaceX and Boeing Co. have contracts to perform such missions under NASA’s commercial crew program, though both have encountered setbacks that have put the companies behind schedule.