Elon Musk’s Twitter Takeover Draws NASA’s Attention

“She assured me that it would not be a distraction,” Mr. Nelson said. The statement came after technical difficulties prevented him from addressing a question related to Twitter and SpaceX during a news conference earlier in the day.

Space Exploration Technologies Corp., as the company is called formally, is a major NASA contractor. The company provides cargo and crew runs to the International Space Station, and is expected to play a key role in the space agency’s attempt to return to the moon. 

A SpaceX spokesman didn’t respond to requests for comment. Last month, Mr. Musk said in court that he had been spending most of his time on Twitter, but expected to find someone to run the social-media platform over time.

Mr. Nelson’s focus on what Twitter may mean for SpaceX emerged as the agency presses toward the next mission under its Artemis exploration program, following the conclusion Sunday of its inaugural moon flight. Officials at the agency described that operation as a successful test of NASA’s massive Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft. 

About three years from now, NASA wants to use those vehicles to send astronauts to a lunar orbit, where a SpaceX Starship lander would transport them to the surface of the moon. No person has touched down there since 1972.

SpaceX has been investing heavily in its Starship program, according to space-industry analysts, adding infrastructure and conducting tests on the ground. The company hasn’t attempted to conduct an orbital flight test of Starship and hasn’t demonstrated the proposed operations plan it would use to land astronauts on the moon for the third Artemis mission in 2025. 

That plan involves launching a depot into orbit and sending ships to load the depot with fuel, according to a recent conference paper from NASA engineers. A lander vehicle would then rendezvous with the depot to fuel up before traveling to the moon to transport astronauts to the surface.

SpaceX said in a tweet late last month that it recently completed a major engine test for Starship, which includes a towering booster called Super Heavy and a spaceship on its top that is also called Starship.

Mr. Nelson, the NASA administrator, said Sunday that SpaceX plans to conduct an uncrewed moon landing with Starship a year from now, and a crewed test in 2024. Delays aren’t out of the question, he added: “Slips are always possible because it’s a brand new system, but they have been quite impressive in what they have done with other systems.”

In the past, Mr. Musk has discussed a variety of dates for the first Starship test flight, but those timetables haven’t been met. For example, he said on a podcast in February 2021 that he had had a goal of getting to orbit with Starship in 2021. In August of this year, he said in a tweet that a successful orbital flight of Starship was probably between a month and a year away.

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Ms. Shotwell said earlier this year that delays are worth it to make sure the technical goals are met.

SpaceX has recently completed missions for other customers, including launching to orbit a moon-lander vehicle for Japanese company ispace Inc. on Sunday.

On Twitter, Mr. Musk has been tweeting frequently about matters related to the social-media company. Last week, he said he continues to oversee SpaceX as well as

Tesla Inc.

“But the teams there are so good that often little is needed from me,” he said in a Dec. 8 tweet. 

Some Tesla fans have expressed frustration with Mr. Musk’s Twitter activities. Shares in the electric vehicle maker are down more than 50% this year. Mr. Musk has also recently discussed work ongoing at his neuroscience startup Neuralink Corp. 

Mr. Musk’s activities outside of SpaceX also have drawn the attention of some company employees this year. A group of SpaceX employees in June sent a letter to executives at SpaceX criticizing his statements on Twitter and behavior, and requesting management separate the company from Mr. Musk’s personal brand. 

Ms. Shotwell fired some employees involved in the letter, saying the effort upset many staffers and distracted from the company’s work. 

Ms. Shotwell also told company employees earlier this year that she personally didn’t believe sexual-misconduct allegations made against Mr. Musk. Those claims were discussed in a story published by Insider. Mr. Musk has called the allegations utterly untrue.

Write to Micah Maidenberg at [email protected]