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It's politics. The SLS is not about space. It's been referred to as the Senate Launch System for years now and that's very accurate. It started back in 2010 an

It's politics. The SLS is not about space. It's been referred to as the Senate Launch System for years now and that's very accurate. It started back in 2010 and still isn't going up anytime soon. For comparison the first time we sent anything into orbit (a probe) was 1958. The first time we put a man in orbit was 1961. In 1962 Kennedy would give his famous space speech. In 1968 we sent a man around the moon. In 1969 we put a man on the moon. Compare the timelines and it's simply pathetic. But what the SLS does provide is an immense number of jobs, votes, and support for the congressmen that keep it funded. The last chief of NASA, Charles Bolden, was the person you want on paper. A decorated and high ranking military officer who was an astronaut with a STEM education. What he was not was a political player, and I think NASA has suffered under him. The person that has replaced him is, at a glance, is the exact opposite of who you want. Jim Bridenstine is an MBA, career politician, and has no technical background whatsoever. But he does have a genuine interest in space which he has worked to support for years, and he is, for better or for worse, a political player. And I have hopes and expectations that he will change the direction of NASA into the far more logical direction that you, and just about everybody, sees would be more productive. And I think we're already seeing this. Recently NASA released a scathing report against the SLS which said, without mincing many words, that they're not going anywhere anytime soon if they have to rely on the SLS. The lengthy report is here [1], here [2] is a random media report on it to give some sort of cliff notes. This is the sort of stuff that Bolden, for whatever reason, did not have the capability or will to push through. That report didn't say anything that everybody didn't already know, but actually stating those things was speaking what must not be spoken - and is now something that demands action. [1] - https://oig.nasa.gov/docs/IG-19-001.pdf https://oig.nasa.gov/docs/IG-19-001.pdf [2] - https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/278656-nasa-report-blames-boeing-mismanagement-for-sls-delays https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/278656-nasa-report-blame...

phkahler 8y ago
While I agree with you about NASA funding pork projects these days, there is another side. I don't think people realize how important pork might be (I'm speculating this isn't a firm belief for me). Without pork projects, we could have even more wealth disparity in the US. What would happen to Alabama if the NASA funded aerospace programs went away? What would happen to the low cost of living areas dominated by retired persons is social security payments went away? I believe this is why the EU has had problems - they're all on the same currency but countries are not permitted to print their own money and they don't have international money redistribution programs. In such an environment any country with a trade deficit will eventually suffer - see Greece. I'm not advocating such pork distributions but I think they may actually serve a purpose other than getting votes. OTOH some places get pork that really don't need it even for the reasons I outlined above.
- garmaine 8y ago
  There would be pain and suffering in the space belt. There would also be colonies on Mars and a thriving space industry. I'll take that future please.
- njarboe 8y ago
  Yanis Varoufakis, the Greek minister of finance during the height of the Greek debt crisis, believes that this type of redistribution (defense spending is a much larger amount) in the USA has allowed it to exist with a common currency without having the same level of problems that Europe has. There is no mechanism in Europe to move enough money to the poorer parts from the productive powerhouse, Germany. This is causing very large problems and a lot of people suffering in southern Europe. French and German banks got a bail out like US banks in 2008 to prevent an economic collapse, but the debts were not forgiven (more money was borrowed to pay the loans) and this problem come back again at some point.
  - freeflight 8y ago
    > There is no mechanism in Europe to move enough money to the poorer parts from the productive powerhouse, Germany. There are several mechanisms to move money [0], just the free movement of labor alone has transferred a lot of money from Germany further to eastern Europe for decades already. I fail to see how military exports would be better than that, defense products are not "money", they serve no productive purpose at all in any country that's not at war. It should also be noted that Germany is among the biggest weapons exporters on this planet [1] and quite a big chunk of Greece debt boiled down to liabilities for military hardware from other EU members [2]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_trade_areas_in_Europe https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_trade_areas_in_Europe [1] https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/interactive/2017/02/10-countries-export-major-weapons-170220170539801.html https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/interactive/2017/02/10-cou... [2] https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/greece/9129234/EU-accused-of-hypocrisy-for-1-billion-in-arms-sales-to-Greece.html https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/greece/912...
    - njarboe 8y ago

phkahler 8y ago

While I agree with you about NASA funding pork projects these days, there is another side. I don't think people realize how important pork might be (I'm speculating this isn't a firm belief for me). Without pork projects, we could have even more wealth disparity in the US. What would happen to Alabama if the NASA funded aerospace programs went away? What would happen to the low cost of living areas dominated by retired persons is social security payments went away? I believe this is why the EU has had problems - they're all on the same currency but countries are not permitted to print their own money and they don't have international money redistribution programs. In such an environment any country with a trade deficit will eventually suffer - see Greece. I'm not advocating such pork distributions but I think they may actually serve a purpose other than getting votes. OTOH some places get pork that really don't need it even for the reasons I outlined above.

garmaine 8y ago
There would be pain and suffering in the space belt. There would also be colonies on Mars and a thriving space industry. I'll take that future please.
njarboe 8y ago
Yanis Varoufakis, the Greek minister of finance during the height of the Greek debt crisis, believes that this type of redistribution (defense spending is a much larger amount) in the USA has allowed it to exist with a common currency without having the same level of problems that Europe has. There is no mechanism in Europe to move enough money to the poorer parts from the productive powerhouse, Germany. This is causing very large problems and a lot of people suffering in southern Europe. French and German banks got a bail out like US banks in 2008 to prevent an economic collapse, but the debts were not forgiven (more money was borrowed to pay the loans) and this problem come back again at some point.
- freeflight 8y ago
  > There is no mechanism in Europe to move enough money to the poorer parts from the productive powerhouse, Germany. There are several mechanisms to move money [0], just the free movement of labor alone has transferred a lot of money from Germany further to eastern Europe for decades already. I fail to see how military exports would be better than that, defense products are not "money", they serve no productive purpose at all in any country that's not at war. It should also be noted that Germany is among the biggest weapons exporters on this planet [1] and quite a big chunk of Greece debt boiled down to liabilities for military hardware from other EU members [2]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_trade_areas_in_Europe https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_trade_areas_in_Europe [1] https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/interactive/2017/02/10-countries-export-major-weapons-170220170539801.html https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/interactive/2017/02/10-cou... [2] https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/greece/9129234/EU-accused-of-hypocrisy-for-1-billion-in-arms-sales-to-Greece.html https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/greece/912...
  - njarboe 8y ago