I worked in software at NASA. One of my last assignments required monitoring a conference call with Boeing and SpaceX concerning software testing. I was never comfortable with the attitude towards software by SpaceX, but that is for another post.
Yesterday Elon Musk, after taking control of Twitter, posted a conspiracy theory concerning the attack on Speaker Pelosi’s husband. Twitter has quickly becoming a cesspool of misinformation and Musk, a billionaire with time on his idle hands, is twitting with the best of them. I would bet Musk is going to tweet something else, maybe something near racist, or homophobic, or antisemitic. He will push the envelope on misinformation, conspiracy theories, and civility and when he does NASA should consider pulling their contracts from SpaceX.
In August SpaceX won a $1.4 Billion contract to shuttle astronauts to the International Space Station. The total so far that has been awarded to SpaceX is over $5 Billion. If Musk would ever dive head first into the Twitter cesspool NASA should seriously consider pulling their contracts with him. From NPR:
Musk himself inflamed those concerns on Sunday when he tweeted a link to unfounded, homophobic allegations about the violent attack on Paul Pelosi, the husband of Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Replying to a tweet from Hillary Clinton about the attack, Musk wrote: “there is a tiny possibility there might be more to this story than meets the eye.” He included a link to an article from the Santa Monica Observer, a fringe website with a history of publishing false stories, which makes lurid claims about the attack without evidence.
NPR Twitter Owner Elon Musk shares conspiracy theory about Pelosi
What kind of human being makes fun of an 82 year old who was viciously attacked with a hammer? What kind of human beings gives this man a $1.4 Billion contract?