If more concrete information comes out, I'm all ears.
...then again, what's all the playground politics worth anyway? nada
I've been called out twice on HN for this [1], but I wholeheartedly disagree. I hadn't heard this rumor before now, and now I have new information.
I can use my own reasoning to qualify the weight I give the claim. I know this is a rumor. I'd rather have some known possibly incorrect data than none at all. It helps me understand the possibility landscape better.
This one even has a WaPo article.
A man's career was screwed...
He did preface with "My guess is". A guess is just that - a guess, without any info to back up your reasoning.
He very well could have made an stupid but honest mistake at some point prior to coming over to his current position (it looks like he was hired last October), and it finally caught up to him.
> He wrote that he took “a risk earlier in the year because I judged it necessary to fulfill our mission. Now, over the balance of time, it is clear that I made a mistake in that choice for which I alone must bear the consequences.”
My suspicion is it was this: "Boeing also bid but was not awarded with a study contract."
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/30/nasa-selects-hls-lunar-lande...
My guess is that he was told: "Keep the moon landing on track for 2024 or you're fired." And the only way he could do so was to illegally expedite the selection process.
1: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/05/19/nasas-h...