As we all know, Musk decided to start SpaceX largely because he was frustrated in seeking help from Russia, and even was spat at by Russian designers.
Garver wrote in the book: “Musk felt insulted by this move, and he decided to start his own rocket company to compete with Russia on the flight back to the United States. Obviously, this spit inspired Musk to launch 1,000 rockets. the ambition of a spaceship.”
Garver also recounts the commercialization of the U.S. space industry during her time as NASA deputy administrator in the Obama administration. The book highlights Garver’s efforts to make space travel more affordable.
Garver’s first meeting with Musk occurred in the summer of 2002, when the two discussed NASA’s reliance on Russia. Earlier, Garver had just completed a period of training in Russia, ready to board the Russian Soyuz spacecraft. However, Garver lost the opportunity because singer Lance Bass was involved in the bidding.
The former NASA official is not the first to speak at length about the incident. Last month, SpaceX co-founder Jim Cantrell said the Russians were unfriendly to Musk when he took him to Moscow to negotiate a deal to buy a rocket that would be used in the future. Send mice or plants to Mars.
“When Musk spoke, the lead designer in Russia became very emotional,” Cantrell said in a documentary that aired in May. “He seemed tired of hearing him and spat on our shoes.”
Cantrell speculated that the Russians may have viewed Musk’s informal attire as “disrespectful to their performance.” But Garver writes in the book that Musk’s “disruptor mentality and lack of respect for traditional industries” often have similar effects on NASA and White House staff.
In Ashlee Vance’s biography, “Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Better Future,” Cantrell gave a similar description. He said that in several conversations in Moscow, the Russians had a bad attitude towards Musk. While Russians are more interested in small talk and a drink, Musk is eager to get down to business.
In Vance’s book, Cantrell said, “They [the Russians] looked at us like we couldn’t be trusted.” He also believes that the chief Russian designer spat at them because “he thinks We’re all shit,” Vance wrote, adding that even Musk’s close friend, Adeo Ressi, had questioned whether the billionaire was insane.
The Russians were ultimately unable to agree on a price with Musk, prompting Musk to “leave the room in a fit of rage,” according to the book’s description. But Cantrell told Vance that it was on the flight back to the U.S. that Musk got the idea to build his own rocket.
Less than a year after that, SpaceX was announced, and it has grown into one of the most valuable private companies. Last year, SpaceX launched the world’s first purely commercial orbital mission. According to Musk, the company has signed a contract to build a lunar lander for NASA and is preparing to launch the world’s most powerful rocket by the end of this year.
Meanwhile, Musk’s rivalry with Russia has been going on for a long time. More recently, the billionaire and Roscosmos director Dmitry Rogozin have had multiple spats on Twitter. (small)
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Former NASA deputy administrator: There are many people within the agency who strongly oppose SpaceX
On June 24, former NASA deputy administrator Lori Garver revealed that there are many people within NASA who are strongly opposed to SpaceX. Garver himself has had major disputes with current head Bill Nelson over SpaceX and others.
Garver said he had to deal not only with sexism from colleagues, but also with current NASA administrator Nielsen’s “passive-aggressive” behavior. At the heart of the conflict between the two, she claimed, was the rocket company SpaceX and the company’s controversial chief executive, Elon Musk.
Garver said she spearheaded NASA’s public-private partnership with SpaceX, known as the Commercial Astronaut Program. The move annoyed many NASA insiders, including Nielsen, she said.
Garver wrote that when Nelson was a U.S. senator, a group led by him “opposed” the commercial astronaut program. Garver recalled that in a private meeting after Musk publicly announced he could help NASA, Nielsen, then a senator, “shouted at me, ‘Get your son Elon in line.'”
According to Garver, although Nelson has now changed his mind and “does his best to promote the commercial astronaut program,” he hasn’t always been a big fan of Musk and SpaceX.
It was previously reported that many people inside NASA despised SpaceX, and Musk’s eccentric behavior and arrogant style also played a role in it.
Garver, who is clearly a fan of SpaceX and Musk, wrote that his “story is hard to separate from his own.”
“Without him and SpaceX, I couldn’t have made such a big transition at NASA,” Garver said. (Chen Chen)
