> In late 2015, Congress directed NASA to launch Europa Clipper using the Space Launch System (SLS), NASA’s massive moon rocket. > The SLS was still in develop

> In late 2015, Congress directed NASA to launch Europa Clipper using the Space Launch System (SLS), NASA’s massive moon rocket. > The SLS was still in development at the time, and would be for a number of years to come. Delays with the powerful rocket, and the need to dedicate at least the first three SLS vehicles to launches for NASA's Artemis moon program, pushed Europa Clipper’s liftoff date into limbo. (SLS debuted in late 2022, successfully sending the uncrewed Artemis 1 mission to the moon.) > The 2021 U.S. House of Representatives budget proposal instructed NASA to launch Europa Clipper by 2025, and to do so on an SLS "if available." Those two crucial words put the probe on a path toward a commercial launch vehicle, which turned out to be a Falcon Heavy. So while the flight time may be longer, at least the entire mission is derisked in that it was forced to get off the ground instead of wait for an appropriate gap within the SLS's launch capacity. [1] https://www.space.com/spacex-falcon-heavy-europa-clipper-launch https://www.space.com/spacex-falcon-heavy-europa-clipper-lau...