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...
desirable develop face imposed incumbent less option risk
It is incumbent on us to develop an executable option, or face the risk of a less desirable option being imposed upon us,
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.
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.
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.
flights good number station
We still are going to be able to accommodate the number of flights we need to get the station in a good configuration for the partners.
september
We probably won't make the September 22 window.
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.
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.
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.