On November 21, 2018, NASA said it would review the workplace safety culture at SpaceX and Boeing Co as the two companies prepared to fly astronauts to the International Space Station.
The agency said the exercise would be a “cultural assessment study” that would also examine “the adherence to a drug-free environment” before crew test flights expected in the coming months.
“We fully expect our commercial partners to meet all workplace safety requirements in the execution of our missions,” NASA said in a statement.
NASA did not spell out the specific trigger for the review, but the Washington Post, which first reported the move, said it was prompted by recent behavior involving SpaceX founder Elon Musk. Musk was filmed drinking whiskey and briefly smoking marijuana during a live podcast in September 2018.
SpaceX and Boeing were NASA’s two main contractors under the commercial crew program, which aimed to send astronauts to space as soon as 2019 using SpaceX’s Dragon and Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft.
Boeing said in an emailed statement that it remained committed to mission success as NASA’s partner while protecting the integrity, safety and quality of its products, its people and their work environment.
SpaceX said it actively promoted a safe work environment. “We are confident that our comprehensive drug-free workforce and workplace programs exceed all applicable contractual requirements,” SpaceX said in a statement sent to Reuters.
The review added another layer of scrutiny to the two companies as they moved toward the first crewed missions under NASA’s commercial program.
