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...
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.
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.
applies continuous directly great ground learned operating proving station
The station is a great proving ground for exploration. We've learned a lot about operating internationally and a lot about continuous operation, all of which applies directly to exploration.
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.
foolish speculate uncertain
At this point, it's so uncertain ... that it would be foolish to speculate on a date.
best
We think the best thing to do is just take them off.
best
We think that's the best thing to do, just take it off.
aiming clearly launch
We haven't set a launch date, but we are clearly aiming for May.
capability complete flying investment ourselves overly prepare small soon space station tremendous
We want to get back flying as soon as we can, but we're not overly pressured. We'll do that at the right time. This is a small investment to get back a tremendous capability and that is to complete the International Space Station (and) prepare ourselves for exploration.
aiming clearly launch looks setting
We don't say we're setting a launch date, but we're clearly aiming for May. May looks very doable.
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.