Octopus Overlords

Canceling the SLS rocket would require congressional approval, and the launch vehicle has the support of lawmakers in several key states, including Republicans in Alabama, where NASA placed the SLS program office. And NASA is currently stacking the second SLS rocket inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center in Florida for the Artemis II mission, which will carry four astronauts around the far side of the Moon on the first human voyage to deep space since 1972.

NASA has penciled in the first Moon landing for the Artemis III mission, which officially is slated for no earlier than 2026 but will likely be delayed to wait for the Starship lander and new commercial spacesuits to be ready.

For the Artemis II flight to happen in late 2025, or more likely in 2026, it will certainly need to use the Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft. But there are other architectures that Isaacman and the Trump administration, which counts SpaceX chief Elon Musk as a key adviser, will be open to considering for later missions.

One low-hanging fruit for an early budget cut and change in approach might be the upgraded SLS Block 1B rocket, which NASA's inspector general estimates will cost $5.7 billion. This larger, more powerful SLS rocket is not required for the first Artemis lunar landing, or any Artemis lunar landing mission, for that matter. Another option might be to cancel the Gateway space station to be placed in lunar orbit.

Kraken wrote: Wed Dec 04, 2024 11:58 pm This got mentioned in the trump cabinet thread, but I thought it might get more traction here since it's not a cabinet position: Jared Isaacman will be NASA's next administrator.


Reactions I've seen in various Facebook groups have been generally positive. This fellow is passionate about space travel and has business experience. Chumminess with Musk is the #1 complaint, followed by lack of political experience. But NASA and SpaceX are deeply intertwined, like it or not, so maybe being a Muskman isn't all bad. I suspect that there might be more emphasis on manned spaceflight over robotic exploration.

Canceling the SLS rocket would require congressional approval, and the launch vehicle has the support of lawmakers in several key states, including Republicans in Alabama, where NASA placed the SLS program office. And NASA is currently stacking the second SLS rocket inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center in Florida for the Artemis II mission, which will carry four astronauts around the far side of the Moon on the first human voyage to deep space since 1972.

NASA has penciled in the first Moon landing for the Artemis III mission, which officially is slated for no earlier than 2026 but will likely be delayed to wait for the Starship lander and new commercial spacesuits to be ready.

For the Artemis II flight to happen in late 2025, or more likely in 2026, it will certainly need to use the Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft. But there are other architectures that Isaacman and the Trump administration, which counts SpaceX chief Elon Musk as a key adviser, will be open to considering for later missions.

One low-hanging fruit for an early budget cut and change in approach might be the upgraded SLS Block 1B rocket, which NASA's inspector general estimates will cost $5.7 billion. This larger, more powerful SLS rocket is not required for the first Artemis lunar landing, or any Artemis lunar landing mission, for that matter. Another option might be to cancel the Gateway space station to be placed in lunar orbit.

Overall this seems to be a wise appointment, unlike nearly all of trump's cabinet. Nelson wasn't great and there's room for rethinking NASA's approach.

msduncan wrote: Fri Dec 06, 2024 1:46 am My brother, who catalogs WAYYYY more technical information on the Apollo program than you'd ever care to read on his website...