"now we're doing it safely." Mercury through Apollo really did not like the idea of using solid rocket boosters, you can't turn them off if things get out of h

"now we're doing it safely." Mercury through Apollo really did not like the idea of using solid rocket boosters, you can't turn them off if things get out of hand, and of course they'll do that themselves in lots of failure modes. Suitable for a launch escape system ... and see the Shuttle for when these principles were turned on their head. Its SRBs, now being literally recycled for Artemis were low capital, high operating cost kludges that infamous killed one shuttle and its crew. In part because there was no provision made for escape aside from the pilots in the first couple of launches or so and that was rather limited, SR-71 technology with a pretty low max altitude. On the other hand the Orion crew capsule does have a tower escape system. So that old NASA you decry, they didn't lose a crew except on the ground due to a high pressure test with pure oxygen!?!?!! OK, that's a credible validation of that part of your thesis, see also Apollo 13 which was a close call. On the other hand does the Orion have a heavy shield for the astronauts to shelter behind in case of a solar storm (see Heinlein's Podkayne of Mars)? If not Apollo and the Artemis program are every bit as dangerous in what was a primary reason Nixon stopped Apollo before all its planned missions, program delays would have extended it into the change in the solar cycle. I would also note the start of this program many years ago was so badly designed the booster system's vibrations would have been lethal to humans. Springs in the crew capsule were part of the proposed solution to that, but going back to Shuttle diameter SRBs, only adding one segment, and all the mass of the tank and SSMEs should have fixed that. If my memory is correct that was a rocket powered by a single stack of SRBs, purely for sending crews out into space. But I'd like to know what happened after the Shuttle and it to make NASA take crew safety seriously. NASA was utterly callous about the known risk from the launch that killed the second shuttle and its crew. I finish by noting a bit of humility is warranted after just a single test mission success. That NASA and its contractors were able to pull it off is quite a feat, but as the Shuttle should have taught us bad designs can eventually catch up with you.