SLS first launch officially delayed one year
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In a press conference today to tout the development of the SLS rocket, NASA finally admitted that the rocket’s first flight has been delayed a year until 2018, as had been rumored for months.
The cost? $7 billion more from now until that first launch, a number that does not include the billions already spent. I once again note that the entire commercial program, both manned and cargo, has cost less than that, from start to finish, and includes the entire manifest of actual cargo flights to ISS.
Please consider donating to Behind the Black, by giving either a one-time contribution or a regular subscription, as outlined in the tip jar to the right or below. Your support will allow me to continue covering science and culture as I have for the past twenty years, independent and free from any outside influence.
In a press conference today to tout the development of the SLS rocket, NASA finally admitted that the rocket’s first flight has been delayed a year until 2018, as had been rumored for months.
The cost? $7 billion more from now until that first launch, a number that does not include the billions already spent. I once again note that the entire commercial program, both manned and cargo, has cost less than that, from start to finish, and includes the entire manifest of actual cargo flights to ISS.
In the sixties, three presidents and Congress shared a similar vision of our space goals. And remarkably, we went virtually from scratch to the moon in less than a decade. In recent times, one president wanted to go to Mars, another is ambivalent towards space at best, and Congress just wants to bring home the pork. Add to this politicised NASA leadership lacking the will or the ability to streamline a bloated, dysfunctional bureaucracy, and it should not come as a surprise that NASA no longer exhibits the “can-not” attitude of the previous generation.
“can-do” sorry
Please tell me this isn’t so.
We never could have predicted this.
Not in a government agency. Not today.
Does everyone feel the sarcasm?