NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine (L) and Elon Musk (R) at SpaceX’s uncrewed test flight in March | Image: NASA
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine reassured journalists this afternoon that their partnership to fly NASA astronauts to the space station is still strong and that the first crews could launch on SpaceX vehicles as soon as the first quarter of next year. This show of strength at SpaceX headquarters comes just two weeks after the two figures exchanged public jabs in the press, suggesting friction between SpaceX and NASA.
“Elon and I are in strong agreement on this — that the one thing we have under development that is of the highest priority is launching American astronauts on American rockets from American soil,” Bridenstine said during his visit to SpaceX. “Human spaceflight is the reason that SpaceX was…