I edited to remove that number and add links. Had it been designed by engineers with budget or deadline in mind, we could have debated methodologies. But it wa

I edited to remove that number and add links. Had it been designed by engineers with budget or deadline in mind, we could have debated methodologies. But it was designed by congress with exact hardware to use mandated by them, with no ability by engineers to change it to lower costs. Also, of course, "cost plus" contracting means that an engineer that suggests an idea to lower costs is thrown out of the room by management. See Dr. Dan Rasky from NASA, top expert on heat shields, explain from inside: https://youtu.be/g3gzwMJWa5w?t=679 https://youtu.be/g3gzwMJWa5w?t=679 Also, most talks by Dr. Robert Zubrin (author of Case for Mars) explain that the human spaceflight part of NASA is nuts.