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Aren't they far behind on their Starship milestones? Why would Nasa grant them more contracts? https://i.redd.it/x998dcfi8sz71.jpg https://i.redd.it/x998dcfi8s

Aren't they far behind on their Starship milestones? Why would Nasa grant them more contracts? https://i.redd.it/x998dcfi8sz71.jpg https://i.redd.it/x998dcfi8sz71.jpg

ShakataGaNai 2y ago
No one expects Elon timelines to actually happen. Also, the other option is... Boeing? And they're doing SPECTACULARLY well right now. In Space, on a plane. If it's Boeing, you're better off not going.
caseyy 2y ago
They are made for each other. NASA's not so good with their Artemis schedule either.
why_at 2y ago
They've been pretty reliable and cost effective for delivering people/cargo to the ISS so far. Even without Starship they can probably pull this mission off. FWIW that image also shows Artemis III launching early 2025, but NASA has delayed that to 2026 at the earliest (unlikely), so it's not like SpaceX is holding up the mission.
wongarsu 2y ago
SpaceX delivered their commercial crew contract with 3 years delay, Boeing is currently on the 7th year of delay and running. NASA's SLS was delayed by nearly 6 years despite being conceived as the "easy and safe option" of combining shuttle parts in the shape of a rocket. Rocket science is hard, everyone missing their milestones is almost expected. And SpaceX is among the more reliable partners available to NASA.
bryanlarsen 2y ago
RTX Collin's just gave up on their spacesuit contract. So there's a good chance that'll delay Artemis by a good 5 years or so.
- mkl 2y ago
  They still have Axiom working on spacesuits: https://www.reuters.com/technology/space/rtxs-collins-talks-drop-iss-spacesuit-contract-with-nasa-sources-say-2024-06-25/ https://www.reuters.com/technology/space/rtxs-collins-talks-...
  - spdif899 2y ago
    Ars has a lot more detail in this article: https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/06/nasas-commercial-spacesuit-program-just-hit-a-major-snag/ https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/06/nasas-commercial-space... It seems Axiom has been focused on a suit for Artemis interior and moon operations while Collins was specifically developing one for in-orbit EVAs, which is a separate beast. Assuming they hand full reigns to Axiom, congrats to that team! But it does seem likely this means delays, as they now have to develop an additional suit for an additional and distinct use case. Good time to be job hunting in this field, perhaps. For those interested, Cleo Abrams recently put out a great video testing an Axiom prototype and discussing many of the design challenges being worked on with the Axiom team. https://youtu.be/FerFv7BZAwo https://youtu.be/FerFv7BZAwo
Nifty3929 2y ago
The timelines (and budgets) are just what you say to get congress or the general public to go along. I'm sure everybody actually directly involved, and probably most congresspeople as well, know these timelines are unrealistic. At least this gives the congressperson an out: "XYZ is to blame! They're way behind schedule!" Read Power Broker to get a real sense of this. Such a great book.
panick21_ 2y ago
Because there is no company that they could give it too that has both experience and a better track record. Its like saying why are you using linux, don't you know it has a knowing history of having bugs. Sure, but show me the alternative that never had bugs. This tug not working correctly could mean dropping the ISS on a major city. So they are not gone trust some new unproven company. And there are simply not many companies that can do that stuff. Being late on a highly complex experimental project is totally different and a different part of the company. This tug is much more likely to be derived from their existing Dragon contracts and those have an amazing track record of execution in the last decade.

Aren't they far behind on their Starship milestones? Why would Nasa grant them more contracts? https://i.redd.it/x998dcfi8sz71.jpg https://i.redd.it/x998dcfi8sz71.jpg

ShakataGaNai 2y ago

No one expects Elon timelines to actually happen. Also, the other option is... Boeing? And they're doing SPECTACULARLY well right now. In Space, on a plane. If it's Boeing, you're better off not going.

caseyy 2y ago

They are made for each other. NASA's not so good with their Artemis schedule either.

why_at 2y ago

They've been pretty reliable and cost effective for delivering people/cargo to the ISS so far. Even without Starship they can probably pull this mission off. FWIW that image also shows Artemis III launching early 2025, but NASA has delayed that to 2026 at the earliest (unlikely), so it's not like SpaceX is holding up the mission.

wongarsu 2y ago

SpaceX delivered their commercial crew contract with 3 years delay, Boeing is currently on the 7th year of delay and running. NASA's SLS was delayed by nearly 6 years despite being conceived as the "easy and safe option" of combining shuttle parts in the shape of a rocket. Rocket science is hard, everyone missing their milestones is almost expected. And SpaceX is among the more reliable partners available to NASA.

bryanlarsen 2y ago

RTX Collin's just gave up on their spacesuit contract. So there's a good chance that'll delay Artemis by a good 5 years or so.

mkl 2y ago
They still have Axiom working on spacesuits: https://www.reuters.com/technology/space/rtxs-collins-talks-drop-iss-spacesuit-contract-with-nasa-sources-say-2024-06-25/ https://www.reuters.com/technology/space/rtxs-collins-talks-...
- spdif899 2y ago
  Ars has a lot more detail in this article: https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/06/nasas-commercial-spacesuit-program-just-hit-a-major-snag/ https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/06/nasas-commercial-space... It seems Axiom has been focused on a suit for Artemis interior and moon operations while Collins was specifically developing one for in-orbit EVAs, which is a separate beast. Assuming they hand full reigns to Axiom, congrats to that team! But it does seem likely this means delays, as they now have to develop an additional suit for an additional and distinct use case. Good time to be job hunting in this field, perhaps. For those interested, Cleo Abrams recently put out a great video testing an Axiom prototype and discussing many of the design challenges being worked on with the Axiom team. https://youtu.be/FerFv7BZAwo https://youtu.be/FerFv7BZAwo

Nifty3929 2y ago

The timelines (and budgets) are just what you say to get congress or the general public to go along. I'm sure everybody actually directly involved, and probably most congresspeople as well, know these timelines are unrealistic. At least this gives the congressperson an out: "XYZ is to blame! They're way behind schedule!" Read Power Broker to get a real sense of this. Such a great book.

panick21_ 2y ago

Because there is no company that they could give it too that has both experience and a better track record. Its like saying why are you using linux, don't you know it has a knowing history of having bugs. Sure, but show me the alternative that never had bugs. This tug not working correctly could mean dropping the ISS on a major city. So they are not gone trust some new unproven company. And there are simply not many companies that can do that stuff. Being late on a highly complex experimental project is totally different and a different part of the company. This tug is much more likely to be derived from their existing Dragon contracts and those have an amazing track record of execution in the last decade.