There can be little doubt that Elon Musk is one of the maverick entrepreneurs of our generation, but that hardly justifies his antics that he keeps dabbling into every now and then. Now it again turns out that Musk’s antics are proving to be an impediment in his entrepreneurial pursuit, after space agency NASA said on Tuesday that it will conduct a safety review of SpaceX and will also ensure that the space company is adhering to keep the environment ‘drug free.’
NASA will also conduct these reviews in the Boeing Company. These reviews will be conducted next year, before NASA dispatches its astronauts to the international space through SpaceX and Boeing’s space crafts. If some of you are still not aware, U.S. state agency had signed lucrative contracts with both companies way back in 2014 to ferry their astronauts to the international space station.
Now it goes without saying that NASA’s decision to raise red flag months before the scheduled space launch is little unusual. But then again America’s premier space agency may have been left with little choice as it tries to deal with an eccentric businessman like Musk.
According to Washington Post article, NASA’s review decision was prompted after Musk was careless enough to take hit of marijuana and sipped whiskey on a podcast recently streamed on the net. The article further claimed that senior officials in the NASA were left quite unpleased by Musk’s irresponsible behavior.
However, as per Washington Post, NASA won’t be conducting any review of the actual rockets. Rather it would minutely look into work and drug policies followed by the company. The inspection would be anything but casual. In fact it can turn out to be an intense review, Washington Post added.
We will have to wait for the next year or completion of the review to know if Musk’s pot-smoking antic will cost SpaceX a lucrative contract. However, even if the contract remains intact, Musk still needs to keep a tab on his eccentric social behavior. Not to mention that he also needs to be little more decent while posting his tweets on his twitter account.
Musk’s responsible behavior is a must if he wants to rightfully stake claim over Steve Job’s rich legacy. Job’s short-temper behavior may have earned him some critics and enemies, but he carried his social as well as professional life with more than dignity. Guess, Musk needs to take some serious tutorial lessons from Steve Job’s life.