With SpaceX and their heavy-lift plans in the back of my mind, watching the video made me cringe. When they constantly name-drop the manufacturer of various com

With SpaceX and their heavy-lift plans in the back of my mind, watching the video made me cringe. When they constantly name-drop the manufacturer of various components it becomes all too obvious who the real audience is. And the message? 'Don't call your Senators, you're still on the gravy train.' >Work is underway on the flight-qualified booster, getting ready for its big test next year at ATK in Utah. [Formerly Morton Thiokol, the company that Orrin Hatch axed the single-segment SRB design to protect. This design decision, and the famed management decision at MT to ignore engineer Roger Boisjoly's warnings on launch day, doomed the crew of STS-51-L.] >The venerable RS-25 engine, built by Pratt-Whitney Rocketdyne… will power the SLS core stage. >In order to fuel these engines, NASA called on the expertise at the Boeing Company to build the SLS core stage… …and on and on. In this arena cost inefficiency is a feature, not a bug.