#SpacePolitics
“It got funded as a #rocket to #nowhere, and we at #NASA had to figure out something to do with it,” #Garver says. Legacy contractors like #Boeing continued to receive large bonus payments 💰 for working on the #SLS, despite delays and mushrooming #costs.
Critics of the #SLS argue that the rocket is #unsustainable by #design, relying on an old and potentially quite #expensive way to get to #space. Much of SLS is a holdover from the #spaceshuttle. But while the shuttle #orbiter, #engines, and external #tanks were designed to be #reusable, SLS and its engines were not.
“They’ve designed a rocket that is basically #unsustainable, because it’s completely #throwaway. The only bit that comes back is #Orion”
Ms. Stirone is a space writer. Dr. Chiao is a former NASA #astronaut. Ms. Garver is a former deputy administrator of NASA. Dr. Grinspoon is an #astrobiologist
@spaceflight inertia stemming from the lack of a proven alternative. Meanwhile, keep the funding stream going because, once halted, it could never be rejustified.
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