On November 21, 2018, NASA said it would review the workplace culture at SpaceX and Boeing as the two companies prepared for astronaut flights to the International Space Station.
The agency said the assessment would look at the companies’ culture “including the adherence to a drug-free environment” before crew test flights planned in the coming months. NASA added: “We fully expect our commercial partners to meet all workplace safety requirements in the execution of our missions.”
The review came after The Washington Post reported that the agency’s concerns were triggered by recent behavior involving SpaceX founder Elon Musk, who was filmed drinking whiskey and briefly smoking marijuana during a live podcast in September 2018.
SpaceX and Boeing are NASA’s two main contractors under the commercial crew program, which is intended to send astronauts to space as soon as 2019 using SpaceX’s Dragon and Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft.
Boeing said it remained committed to mission success as NASA’s partner while maintaining integrity, safety and quality in its products, its people and their work environment. SpaceX did not immediately comment.
Reporting from Orlando, Florida, and Bengaluru.
