Andy Pasztor
Andy Pasztor is a former journalist with The Wall Street Journal. He is the author of the 1995 book When the Pentagon was for Sale: Inside America's Biggest Defense Scandal. Pasztor also appeared in the 2022 documentary film Downfall: The Case Against Boeing, which examined Boeing's role in two fatal crashes of the Boeing 737 MAX: Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302.[1]
Journalism controversies
Burt Rutan
On February 24, 2010, Andy Pasztor wrote an article titled "Space Pioneer Burt Rutan Blasts New NASA Plan," claiming that Burt Rutan had written a letter to Congress sharply criticizing President Obama's plans to turn over portions of its human spaceflight program to commercial providers.[2] A couple days later Burt Rutan released a statement saying that "the WSJ chose to cherry-pick and misquote my comments to Cong Wolf."[3]
SpaceX
Immediately following SpaceX's inaugural launch of the Falcon 9 rocket, Andy Pasztor wrote in a Wall Street Journal article titled "SpaceX Illustrates Privatization Risk" on June 7, 2010, alleging that SpaceX claimed it would require $1 billion to build a passenger launch escape system for its rocket, and that the company would likely require future assistance from US taxpayers.[4] When asked about this, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk responded saying:
Andy Pasztor’s article in the Journal was, I’m sorry to say, rife with errors. He was off by a factor of ten on what it would cost SpaceX to develop a launch escape system. Also, under no circumstances would SpaceX be seeking a financing round from the taxpayers. That doesn’t make any sense."[5]
SpaceX and other launch contractors have received substantial money from U.S. taxpayers in the form of NASA contracts. In May 2011 a Government Accountability Office report titled "Commercial Launch Vehicles: NASA Taking Measures to Manage Delays and Risks" [6] stated that starting in November 2011 SpaceX had, in addition to a contract of $278 million,[7] been awarded $118 million for additional Commercial Orbital Transportation Services ("COTS") risk reduction milestones, bringing the company's total cargo-only contract to $396 million for 12 ISS resupply missions.
In April 2011, SpaceX was awarded $75 million [8] (versus Pasztor's estimate of a billion dollars for the passenger launch escape system alone) as a participant in NASA's CCDev2.[9] In August 2012, NASA announced that, as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Integration Capability program, SpaceX won a $440 million contract.[10]
Awards
- 2007 Gerald Loeb Award for Beat Writing for "A Spotlight on Boeing's Legal and Ethical Scandals"[11]
References
- ^ Kennedy, Lisa (January 26, 2022). "'Downfall: The Case Against Boeing' Review: Damning Aviation Doc Feeds Your Fear of Flying". Variety. Retrieved March 6, 2022.
- ^ Pasztor, Andy (February 24, 2010). "Space Pioneer Burt Rutan Blasts NASA Plan". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved October 13, 2019.
- ^ Rutan, Burt. Burt Rutan Issues Clarification on Wall Street Journal Remarks, SpaceRef.com, 26 February 2010
- ^ Pasztor, Andy (June 6, 2010). "SpaceX Illustrates Privatization Risk". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved October 13, 2019.
- ^ Loizos, Connie. Elon Musk Weighs in On WSJ Piece, and Future of SpaceX, 8 June 2010
- ^ GAO-11-692T
- ^ NASA Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS)
- ^ NASA Commercial Crew Development Program (CCDev) Round 2 Milestone Schedule [1]
- ^ NASA Commercial Crew Development Program (CCDev) Round 2
- ^ NASA's Commercial Crew Program Progressing for Future of U.S. Human Spaceflight [2]
- ^ "2007 Gerald Loeb Award Winners Announced by UCLA Anderson School of Management". Business Wire. June 25, 2007. Retrieved February 1, 2019.