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If you subscribe to the theory that SLS is impossible to cancel due to congressional politics, then SLS continuing to fail means NASA funding is secured indefin

If you subscribe to the theory that SLS is impossible to cancel due to congressional politics, then SLS continuing to fail means NASA funding is secured indefinitely. Seems implausible to me. If SLS fails this year, you can forget about the second launch, meant to be a crewed launch, in 2024. And by that time I think Starship will be flying. The absurdity of keeping SLS going will become too great even for Congress to tolerate.

bayesian_horse 4y ago
This mission will probably prove that SLS and Orion can bring Humans into lunar orbit. Starship hasn't gotten into orbit yet and is very far from being Human rated, both in terms of life support and launch reliability. By 2024, Starship MAY be doing return trips to LEO and they will be testing the lunar lander. SLS isn't more absurd than putting Humans on the Moon in the first place. It's an insane task in the best circumstances.
paganel 4y ago
> means NASA funding is secured indefinitely. (...) Seems implausible to me With China on the geo-strategic horizon, and maybe even with Russia really getting back into the game, I'm pretty sure that NASA or any other Western-based (and US-led) space agency will get funding for an indefinite period of time. Case in point, just show a short video like this [1] to any decision-taker in DC and I can assure you that that funding will get instantly approved: > The Nudol missile, which Russia will use to shoot down enemy satellites in case of war. > Flight speed from 2000 to 5000 meters per second. In this video, you can judge the speed yourself. [1] https://twitter.com/TobiAyodele/status/1563635402967322624 https://twitter.com/TobiAyodele/status/1563635402967322624